Kenya: East African Breweries escalates legal battle to protect Diageo-Asahi deal
East African Breweries has escalated its legal battle to protect the KSh 340 billion Diageo-Asahi deal, writing to Chief Justice Martha Koome to warn that coordinated forum shopping across multiple court stations risks derailing one of the largest foreign direct investments in Kenya's history.
In the letter, the listed brewer is petitioning the Chief Justice to appoint a single Nairobi High Court judge to manage all pending proceedings and issue administrative directions for expedited hearing.
The brewer is also seeking to engage the Judicial Service Commission to operationalise both the Competition Tribunal and the Capital Markets Tribunal to adjudicate disputes arising from the transaction.
The intervention follows a pattern EABL describes as a deliberate strategy by litigants to obtain the same reliefs repeatedly refused in Nairobi from different court stations.
The brewer warns that the proliferation of parallel proceedings creates a real risk of conflicting orders from courts of concurrent jurisdiction, undermining legal certainty, investor confidence and Kenya's reputation as an investment destination.
The transaction, announced in December 2025, involves Asahi Group Holdings acquiring Diageo's entire 65% stake in EABL via Diageo Kenya Limited, alongside Diageo's 53.68% stake in UDV Kenya, at an implied enterprise value of US$4.8 billion for EABL.
Four legal challenges have targeted the transaction since its announcement.
Bia Tosha Distributors, a former EABL distributor citing a decade-old distribution dispute and a risk of losing KSh 25 billion in potential damages, had interim orders dismissed by the High Court in Nairobi on 9 April 2026.
JILK Construction, which holds a pending arbitral award of approximately KSh 2.45 billion against EABL-related entities, saw its application dismissed by a Nairobi judge on 18 June 2026.
A third challenge by Shane Ngechu Irungu and 337 Frontier Capital, targeting the CMA and CAK over alleged failure to protect minority shareholders during Diageo's 2022-2023 tender offer, was declined by Justice Ado Otieno on 22 June.
On the same day the Nairobi court dismissed JILK's application, a fresh petition was filed at the High Court in Machakos by Christine Irungu, naming CAK, Diageo Kenya Limited and five others as respondents. Justice Josephine Mongare issued ex parte conservatory orders that same day, restraining all parties from taking any steps towards completing the transaction. Those orders remain in force.
EABL's lawyers argue that the Machakos filing is an abuse of court process, noting the petitioner's address is Nairobi, as are all respondents, and that the petition was filed hours after Nairobi courts declined identical relief.
The transaction has received full regulatory approval in Uganda and Tanzania. CAK merger clearance, complicated by a separate antitrust complaint filed by Kenya Wine Agencies Limited, a Heineken subsidiary alleging EABL abuses its dominant market position, remains the outstanding regulatory step before the deal can close.
24 June, 2026
