Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has threatened to auction four properties linked to Nakumatt Holdings after the collapsed retail chain defaulted on loans worth more than Sh1.9 billion.
The lender issued a statutory notice demanding settlement of debts secured by parcels of land in Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa. Failure to pay within 90 days could trigger the sale of the properties.
The bank says Nakumatt Holdings owes Sh967.1 million under an import invoice finance facility. It also owes $331,872.95 (about Sh42.8 million at current exchange rates) under an overdraft and $6.99 million (Sh903.4 million) under a term loan. These credit facilities were secured by the securities provided by Nakumatt Investments Limited and Creative Enterprises Limited.
The credit facilities were extended between February 2011 and January 2012, at the height of Nakumatt’s rapid regional expansion.
“Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited hereby demands payment of the secured amounts,” the lender said in the statutory notice addressed to Nakumatt Investments Limited.
The properties listed as security include land reference number MN/I/9626 in Mombasa, Nakuru Municipality Block 9/47 and two Nairobi parcels — LR No. 209/4063 and LR No. 209/4058.
The loans were secured through charges created in 2011 and 2012 by Nakumatt Investments Limited on behalf of Nakumatt Holdings Limited.
The statutory notice follows a November 2025 High Court judgment that cleared the way for the bank, to publish loan recovery notices after difficulties serving the borrowers directly. The court ruled that the National Land Commission had for over two years unreasonably delayed acting on the lender’s request to serve statutory notices through newspaper advertisements.
The court found that the commission’s silence had blocked the bank from enforcing its security.
“The respondent’s failure to give feedback on the applicant’s request for substituted service has placed the applicant at risk of not being able to realise its securities by exercising its statutory power of sale,” the judge said.
The court issued an order compelling the commission to authorise substituted service of the notices through newspapers, with nationwide circulation.
It added that Stanchart had demonstrated that the persons to be served on behalf of the chargors could not be found for personal or postal service as the notices dispatched via postal service were returned to sender and despite investigations, none of the directors of the chargors could be traced.
If the commission failed to act within seven days, the court allowed the bank to proceed with publication in the Kenya Gazette and newspapers.
The judgment paved the way for the lender to issue the current statutory notice threatening auction of the properties.
Nakumatt was once East Africa’s largest supermarket chain, operating more than 60 outlets across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
At its peak, the retailer dominated the region’s retail sector and employed thousands of workers. However, the chain collapsed in 2017 under the weight of heavy bank loans, supplier arrears and declining sales.
The retailer owed banks, suppliers and landlords tens of billions of shillings when the crisis deepened.
Most outlets eventually shut down as creditors moved to recover unpaid debts tied to the once-dominant supermarket chain.
