A shop assistant arranges products on a shelf at Uchumi Ngong Hyper in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Uchumi Supermarkets is set to receive an additional Sh1.3 billion as taxpayer-funded bailout to shore up its business.
Out
of this Treasury will release Sh700 million next month to support its
local operations while a further Sh600 million will be disbursed at
later date to offset debts the retailer owes suppliers in Uganda and
Kenya.
The troubled chain in January received Sh500
million from Treasury to shore up its operations - the first tranche of
an initially planned Sh1.2 billion bailout.
“We expect
the next tranche (of Sh700 million) shortly hopefully in the month of
April or May. There is also a third tranche (of Sh600 million) coming to
support Uganda and Tanzania but under a separate package. In total the
package will come to Sh1.8 billion,” said Uchumi chief executive Julius
Kipng’etich on the sidelines of the retailer’s AGM held in Nairobi.
Uchumi
chairman Catherine Ngahu said plans for the sale of stake to a
strategic investor in bid to pull the retail chain out of the red are on
course.
“The search for a strategic investor is
ongoing. We have talked to a number of partners and we hope to narrow
down to one,” said Ms Ngahu.
The deep-pocketed investor would be expected to inject Sh5billion in the retail chain to support its turnaround programme.
The retailer said it is mulling re-entry into Uganda and Tanzania markets where it exited two years ago.
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