Sh800m sale of Union Towers among priciest deals of 2014
Former president Mwai Kibaki sold one of the jewels of his vast business empire, the Union Towers (inset) in a multi-million-shilling deal. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Public and private varsities have spent about Sh5bn on buying buildings and parking space in downtown Nairobi in the past five years.
Former President Mwai Kibaki was back in the headlines in September when he sold a 14-floor building in central Nairobi to Mt Kenya University (MKU) for Sh800 million, making it one of the priciest real estate deals of the year.
Mt Kenya University founder and chairman Simon Gicharu said the deal brought to an end a three-year bidding process for Union Towers that later paved the way for the establishment of the institution’s Virtual Learning Centre.
“We have been pursuing avenues to strengthen our virtual learning programmes and will be using the premises to coordinate it,” Mr Gicharu told the Business Daily, adding that the transaction was closed for Sh800 million and financed through long-term debt from a local lender.
Until the takeover, Union Towers belonged to Parkway Investment Limited, a company Mr Kibaki co-owned with former minister Njoroge Mungai.
Mr Gicharu said the university had found the building’s location in Nairobi’s central business district (CBD) attractive and suitable for its expansion. MKU is not new to Union Towers having occupied a number of floors in the building on a long term lease.
The building has in recent years become a key learning hub in the CBD that also houses Nyeri-based Dedan Kimathi University’s city campus.
MKU, a private university, operates 12 campuses in Nairobi, Thika, Mombasa, Meru, Nakuru, Mumias, Eldoret, Kitale, Lodwar, Kakamega and Kabarnet. It also has a campus in Kigali, Rwanda and a marketing office in Juba, South Sudan.
MKU’s pursuit of a virtual learning platform makes it the second institution this year after Kenyatta University to do so. It remains to be seen how the programmes will impact access to and quality of university education in Kenya.
The successful purchase of Union Towers should help MKU grow its presence within Nairobi’s CBD where universities are locked in a fierce battle for working students.
Universities have over the past eight years spent billions of shillings in the purchase or leasing of buildings in Nairobi and other major towns where they have set up campuses targeting students who attend classes after work.
Both public and private universities are estimated to have spent more than Sh5 billion on buying buildings and parking areas in downtown Nairobi alone in the past five years.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
