US firm keeps off Wananchi operation

ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru PHOTO:COURTESY

An American financial institution that ousted a firm associated with ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru from Wananchi Group says it will not take up operations of the company. It has instead opted to leave it to an independent board.

Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic), owned by the US Government, said it does not presently intend to take the lead in managing the operations of ATMT – the fund that owns Wananchi Group, best known in Kenya for the Zuku brand.

"Instead, the management of ATMT Fund will be managed from this point forward by its board of directors in accordance with Mauritian law," Opic said in an email statement last Friday.

It would mark the newest turn in an ongoing battle for control after the owners differed on the disposal of key subsidiaries considered loss-making. The proposed disposal was resisted by minority shareholders in ATMT Fund, including Mr Mucheru, who moved to court claiming the managers may have looted Sh20 billion from the business.

In April, Opic announced it had exercised its power as the majority shareholder to remove East Africa Capital Partners as the asset manager for the ATMT Fund.