The Sarrai Group of Companies, commonly referred to as the Sarrai Group, is a privately owned conglomerate in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. The group maintains its headquarters in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, with subsidiaries in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

. The group is headed by the executive group chairman, ''Sarbjit Singh Rai''

Overview

As of November 2023, the Sarrai Group comprises 11 subsidiary companies as outlined in the table below:

History

The father of Sarbjit Singh Rai, the current chairman of the group, migrated from his native

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and established businesses in Kenya. The father's brother, one ''Tarlochan Singh Rai'', who either came with him or followed him to Kenya, also established his own chain of businesses. After the two brothers died their sons expanded and diversified the businesses, which operate separately. Sarbjit Singh Rai moved to Uganda and started the Sarrai Group. His cousin ''Jaswant Rai'', stayed in Kenya, where he operates three sugar plantations; (a) West Kenya Sugar Limited (b) Sukari Industries Limited and (c) Olepito Sugar Limited.

Acquisition of Hima Cement Limited

In November 2023, the Sarrai Group signed binding documentation to buy the 70 percent of

Hima Cement Limited Hima Cement Limited (HCL) is a cement manufacturer in Uganda. It is a subsidiary of the Holcim Group, a building materials manufacturer headquartered in Switzerland, with subsidiaries in over 80 countries. Location The main factories of HCL are ...

that

Holcim Holcim is a Swiss-based global building materials and aggregates flagship division of the Holcim Group. The original company was merged on 10 July 2015 with Lafarge to form LafargeHolcim as the new company and renamed to Holcim Group in 2021 ...

held in the cement maker, through several subsidiaries including

Bamburi Cement Bamburi Cement Limited is an industrial company in Kenya specialising in cement and concrete. The company has operations in Bamburi suburb of Mombasa, it is headquartered in Nairobi and its stock is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. ...

of Kenya. The purchase price is reported as US$84 million. The deal requires regulatory approval in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

COMESA The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whic ...

Controversy and Cancellation of Mumias Sugar Lease

In December 2021, the Sarrai Group controversially won a tender to lease Mumias Sugar Company Limited in neighboring Kenya. However, the announcement of the lease award was successfully challenged in Kenya High Court leading to immediate suspension of the lease on December 29, 2021, by Justice Kenneth Ndung'u of

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

High Court. The judge cited a petition by one of the bidders alleging fraud, mistakes and illegalities in the leasing process. On 29 December 2021, the Kenya High Court in Nairobi, suspended the Mumias lease offer to Sarrai Group after one of the bidders filed a case against a lease award, with Sarrai Group and Mumias Sugar receiver manager named as defendants. The bidder, Tumaz and Tumaz Enterprises, which had placed the highest bid of Kshs. 27.6 billion against Kshs. 11.5 billion for Sarrai Group, alleged fraud, mistakes and illegalities in the bidding process, which was headed by Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB)'s receivership manager P V Rao. Mumias Sugar was placed under receivership in 2018 by KCB, which was one of its creditors. Justice Kenneth Ndung'u of Milimani High Court in Nairobi suspended the lease award and ordered KCB's receiver manager and Sarrai Group not to interfere with Mumias Sugar until the case was heard and determined. In January 2022, other bidders including West Kenya Sugar Company were enjoined in new cases filed against Sarrai Group and P V Rao. A group of Mumias Sugar farmers filed another lawsuit challenging the lease award. They protested that KCB's receiver manager had erred in awarding the lease to the lowest bidder. West Kenya Sugar company told the court that it was the highest bidder, and yet the lease was awarded at a cost of Kshs. 5.8 billion to Sarrai Group. They contested that Sarrai Group was the lowest bidder out of 8 bidders who had submitted their bids. The Nairobi High Court judge Okwany issued a second lease suspension until March 14, 2022, when the case will heard and determined. The farmers had sued Sarrai Group, P V Rao, the Attorney General, Competition Authority, Kakamega County government among others. In its reply to the suit, the Competition Authority of Kenya told the court that the lease award was fraudulent, because the KCB receiver manager and Sarrai Group failed to get its approval before taking over the lease. They said it was a criminal act as per the Competition Act of the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. In early February, 2022 another round of lawsuits were filed by creditors including the law firm of Kimeto, which is owed Kshs. 76 million. The law firm claimed that the leasing process was fraudulent because KCB's receiver manager had filed documents in court showing that KCB collected over Kshs. 1.5 billion from running Mumias Sugar since 2018. They argued that KCB's Mumias Sugar debt of Kshs. 570 million should already have been credited from the collections which were 3 times the debt KCB was owed. They wanted KCB receiver manager to be fired by the court and a new tender process to be announced and administered by the court. They argued that the previous tendering process had virtually collapsed after a barrage of lawsuits were filed, and effectively stopped the operations of Mumias Sugar. In February 2022, 500 former employees of Mumias Sugar who occupied the company's houses claimed that they were served with eviction orders by Sarrai Group, despite court orders stopping the eviction without their salary compensation. Sarrai Group's eviction notices were in violation of court orders. These evictions echo of another controversy involving a Sarrai Group subsidiary in neighboring Uganda, in which Sarrai Group brutally evicted 5,000 people from their ancestral lands, prompting a Commission of Inquiry. On April 14, 2022, the lease award was legally canceled by Justice Mabeya for failure to consider other creditors, for failure to consult the Competition Authority of Kenya, for failure to explain how Mumias would repay its creditors, and for failure to conduct a feasibility study. The Judge further demanded that the administrator step aside and give unrestricted access of Mumias to the newly appointed administrator, Mr. Kereto Marima. The new administrator is to “start the lease process afresh, in consultation with all the secured and unsecured creditors.”

References

External links