Popular Biscuit manufacturer, Britania, is up for sale. The company was last year placed under administration after defaulting on loans worth about Sh1.3 billion from Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and other creditors.
The sale was announced through a notice on one of the local dailies by Peter Kahi of PKF consulting, who was appointed by DTB as administrator. Britani had failed to clear about Sh900 million in loans to the financial institution.
Company assets listed for sale include a modern high-tech plant at Industrial area, Nairobi, factory buildings and raw materials.
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Among the products manufactured by the company are biscuits and confectionary snacks. In the notice, Mr Kahi states that proposals for the business as a whole, as a going concern, will be examined.
Britania attributes its woes to the closure of popular retail stores Nakumatt and Tuskys which it says went down owing them over Sh50 million. The company also cites the Covid-19 pandemic which affected its major client-base consisting of schools and hotels.
Last year, Uzuri Foods Limited, a flour supplier to Britania, declared bankruptcy due to a Sh17.3 million debt for deliveries made between March and August 2019.
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Although Uzuri requested that the High Court appoint Kolluri Venkata Subbaraya as liquidator and grant him the authority to sell the manufacturer’s assets in order to repay the debt, Britania opted to seek an alternative recovery strategy that would help it clear the loans.
The business began as a modest bakery, founded by Nitin Dawd’s family. Although it was registered as Jambo Biscuits, it was operating under the brand name Britania. The firm was sold to Catalyst Principal Partners, a Kenyan-owned private equity in 2016.
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