The family of the late retired President Daniel Moi has sold a stake in its logistic firm, Siginon Aviation, to a foreign company, after regulators approved the takeover.
Moi's family sold a controlling stake for Ksh1.7 billion to a Kuwait-based company making it the second major deal involving the family and their associates.
Siginon Aviation is part of the Siginon Group which is owned by the Moi family collectively with his former personal assistant Joshua Kulei, who has a 12 per cent stake.
Records at the Company Registry show several firms that own Siginon Group, including Prize Holding Limited, which has a 42 per cent stake, and Trade World Kenya with 10 per cent.
Other firms with a stake at the company include Kabarak Farm (26 per cent), Sacho High School Trust (six per cent), Mogotiyo Plantations (10 per cent) and Moi High School Kabarak (six per cent)--all of which are directly linked to the former President.
Siginon is headquartered at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and has three subsidiaries that run different functions.
The firm’s flagship business is Siginon Global Logistics, which offers cargo transportation by sea, air, road and rail.
It also owns Siginon Container Freight Station, which clears cargo bound for outside Kenya from the Mombasa port.
Notably, these two units are not part of the proposed NAS deal, which the Competition Authority of Kenya approved last week.
"As we cleared cargo, we started getting a lot of requests from our customers who wanted their cargo transported from point A to B. So we bought some trucks to move the shipment to the final destination.
"Then from there, we had the customer asking us whether we could hold the cargo for them for some time because they didn’t need the goods urgently; so we started investing in warehouses.
"We also went into ground handling because we were putting a lot of cargo into aircraft and airlines require terminal handling services such as ground handling, ramp handling, and air cargo handling," Siginon Managing Director Meshack Kipturgo told Forbes.
