(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Quickmart Kenya shareholders will receive KES 15 billion ($115.4 million / £89.9 million) from the sale of a 50% stake through a public offer at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, delivering strong returns for the retail chain’s founders and private equity backer Adenia.
Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited (SRKL) is selling two billion shares at KES 7.50 each ($0.058 / £0.045) in an offer running to 31st October, providing a multi-billion-shilling partial exit for Adenia and its founders.
In SRKL, Adenia holds a 50.79% stake, the family of Quickmart founder the late John Kinuthia holds 31.83%, Tumaini Supermarket founders hold 12.02%, and Quickmart chief executive Peter Kang’iri holds 5.36%.
All shareholders will cede half their ownership in the initial public offering, a transaction that reveals the outsized growth in value of the chain under Adenia, which first bought Tumaini Supermarket in 2018 and acquired Quickmart the following year. The two were merged in 2020.
The deal will add billions of shillings to the worth of the founders of Tumaini Supermarket and Quickmart, which were smaller retailers in a market then dominated by Tuskys and Naivas.
Adenia will bank KES 7.62 billion ($58.6 million / £45.7 million) from the sale of 1.06 billion shares, representing half of its 2.03 billion units in Quickmart.
The fund acquired a 55% majority equity stake in Tumaini in 2018 and a 51% stake in Quickmart in 2019, before merging the two units under the Quickmart brand in January 2020.
Quickmart chief executive, who joined the company in 2019, is set to earn KES 803.3 million ($6.2 million / £4.8 million) from the sale of half of his 214.2 million shares.
The Kinuthia family is in line for a total windfall of KES 4.77 billion ($36.7 million / £28.6 million) as it cedes half of its 1.27 billion shares in Sokoni Retail.
Duncan Kinuthia, the late founder’s son and a director at Quickmart, is selling 414.6 million shares, which will net him KES 3.1 billion ($23.8 million / £18.6 million). He currently owns a 20.73% stake in the retailer, equivalent to 829.2 million shares.
His sister Gladys Wambui Kinuthia holds 191.5 million shares, or a 4.79% stake in the vehicle, meaning she stands to earn KES 718.2 million ($5.5 million / £4.3 million) after offloading half her holdings.
The late founder’s wife, Zipporah Kinuthia, and William Gitau Kinuthia are in line to net KES 473.4 million ($3.6 million / £2.8 million) each after offloading 63.1 million shares apiece. They currently hold stakes of 3.16% each.
Tumaini founders Moses Nditika, Joram Ngeruro Njoga and Elijah Omullo Okello will collectively bank KES 1.8 billion ($13.8 million / £10.8 million) from the sale, through their 12.02% holding in Sokoni Retail.
Mr Okello is selling 87.98 million shares, or half of his 4.4% stake, which will see him earn KES 660 million ($5.1 million / £4 million).
Mr Nditika and Mr Njoga hold equal stakes of 3.81%, or 152.45 million shares each, meaning they stand to earn KES 571.7 million ($4.4 million / £3.4 million) each from selling half their shares.
The chain, which posted a profit of KES 1.7 billion ($13.1 million / £10.2 million) in the year to December, has promised investors 80% of profits as dividends.
The sale through the NSE is a boost to the bourse, which this year ended a listing drought that lasted years following the Kenya Pipeline Company IPO and the entry of Family Bank via introduction.
This has widened investors’ choice in a market where five counters, Safaricom, Equity Bank, KCB, EABL and Cooperative Bank, dominated trading, masking the overall performance of the bourse.
“The offer opens the next chapter in that journey by broadening ownership and enabling Kenyan and other eligible investors to participate in Quickmart’s future,” said Martha Osier, a partner at Adenia.
“The existing shareholder group will retain a substantial interest following the offer, reflecting our continued confidence in the company and its long-term prospects,” she added.
The sale opened on Monday morning after obtaining regulatory approvals, and will run until 30th October.
Quickmart will become the second listed retailer at the bourse, joining the struggling Uchumi Supermarket, which went public in 1992.
The sale of part of Adenia’s stake through the NSE marks a rare move by a private equity fund, which often exits investments through share sales to high-net-worth investors or peers.
The deal aligns with PE funds’ strategy of staying in a business for five to seven years, with an average holding period of about six and a half years.
For their remaining shares, Adenia and other shareholders have agreed a lock-in period of 24 months for at least 60% of their stock, opening the way for further share sales via the NSE.
Kenyan institutional investors have been allocated 35% of the IPO shares, followed by local retail and offering investors at 20% each.
East African Community investors have an allocation of 12%. The limits can be adjusted depending on subscription levels per investor category.
Quickmart is now the second largest retail chain in Kenya behind Naivas by store count and turnover, with an estimated 15% share of the market. The company has 72 stores across 16 counties.
In the year ended December 2025, Quickmart reported a 33% growth in net profit to KES 1.51 billion ($11.6 million / £9.1 million). Sales rose 9.3% to KES 50.43 billion ($387.9 million / £302.4 million).
The retailer paid shareholders a dividend of KES 1.65 billion ($12.7 million / £9.9 million), representing a payout ratio of 109%.
Adenia sought to bet on a sector that had witnessed turmoil after several Kenyan supermarkets, including Uchumi, Nakumatt and Tuskys, had either gone bust or were about to do so as foreign retailers such as Shoprite and Game exited.
Quickmart launched a breakneck expansion that at first saw it open a branch nearly every month to become the fastest-growing supermarket chain in Kenya.
The Financial Times ranked it this year at number 97 among Africa’s fastest-growing companies in a top 100 list that had 17 companies from Kenya.
While taking over Tumaini and Quickmart, Adenia judged Kenya a nascent retail market with potential to grow in both scale and sophistication.
Adenia’s initial growth strategy was two-fold. First, it replaced the Kinuthia founding family with professional management, bringing in Mr Kang’iri, with a background in retail, logistics and finance, as chief executive, and Jacques Dôme, who had been in retail in Dubai for 15 years, as his deputy.
Second, it sought to strike better deals with Kenyan suppliers, many of which enjoy dominant market positions.
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