By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, May 15, 2026 - The High Court has restored control of troubled investment firm TransCentury Plc to receiver managers appointed by Equity Bank, escalating a long-running corporate and legal battle tied to billions of shillings in unpaid debt.
The ruling reverses interim orders issued in April that had temporarily barred receiver managers George Weru and Muniu Thoithi from acting on behalf of the company.
The two, both from PwC, had originally been appointed after TransCentury defaulted on loans estimated at more than Sh6 billion owed to Equity Bank.
The court found that the temporary orders issued earlier had created confusion around who legally controlled the company, especially after directors appeared to resume involvement despite the existing receivership structure. In its decision, the court stated that TransCentury was already under receivership when the application seeking to stop the managers was filed, adding that this had not been fully disclosed to the court.
The latest ruling now places Weru and Thoithi firmly back in charge pending further court directions, handing Equity Bank a major victory in a dispute that has dragged on for nearly three years.
TransCentury Plc was once considered one of Kenya’s most ambitious investment firms, with interests spanning power infrastructure, engineering, transport and manufacturing across East and Central Africa.
The company invested in regional projects including power transmission, cables manufacturing and even the Rift Valley Railways consortium during its expansion years.
But aggressive expansion financed largely through debt gradually turned into a financial burden.
The roots of the current crisis can be traced back to loans advanced between 2013 and 2014, when Equity financed the company’s regional expansion plans.
According to court filings, the facilities eventually ballooned into a multibillion-shilling debt dispute after TransCentury struggled with repayments amid economic headwinds, currency pressures and weakening revenues.
By June 2023, Equity Bank moved to place both TransCentury and its subsidiary, East African Cables, under receivership after rejecting a proposal to write off part of the debt.
The bank argued that despite ongoing negotiations, the company had failed to meet repayment obligations and had not raised sufficient capital through a rights issue meant to stabilize operations. Equity maintained that receivership was necessary to protect assets and recover the outstanding debt.
Since then, the case has evolved into one of Kenya’s most closely watched corporate restructuring battles.
TransCentury repeatedly fought the takeover in court, arguing that the bank acted prematurely and disrupted efforts to restructure the business.
At one point, the company even physically blocked receiver managers from accessing its Lavington offices while Equity successfully took control of East African Cables’ Industrial Area operations.
In 2025, courts temporarily blocked Equity’s receivers from taking over, granting the company additional time to seek financiers and restructure its obligations.
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More recently, the Consumers Federation of Kenya (Cofek) entered the dispute, seeking to remove the receiver managers altogether.
Cofek argued that the process unfairly prioritized Equity Bank’s interests over those of other stakeholders, particularly the Kenya Revenue Authority, which is also pursuing unpaid taxes from the company.
The lobby group claimed TransCentury and its subsidiaries owed KRA roughly Sh1.6 billion in tax obligations and argued that public interest considerations should come before private debt recovery.
However, the High Court has now discharged those interim orders, effectively restoring full authority to Equity’s appointed managers.
For Equity Group Holdings, the ruling strengthens its position in recovering one of the more high-profile distressed corporate debts in Kenya’s banking sector.
The lender has consistently argued that it acted lawfully and only moved into receivership after years of negotiations and failed repayment plans.
Equity lawyers previously told the court that the company had acknowledged the debt and even requested grace periods before the receivership action began.
The decision also sends a wider signal to Kenya’s financial markets about how courts may handle disputes involving distressed firms, creditor rights and receivership powers.
The immediate future of TransCentury remains uncertain.
The company still faces heavy debt obligations, legal disputes and operational pressures, while its shares remain suspended from trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Yet despite the turmoil, TransCentury and East African Cables have continued attracting speculative investor interest due to their low share prices and hopes of a turnaround.
At one point in 2025, TransCentury shares had emerged among the top-performing stocks on the NSE despite the ongoing receivership battles.
For now, however, control firmly rests with the receiver managers as the company’s restructuring and debt recovery process continues under court supervision.
The case also highlights a broader issue facing Kenya’s corporate sector: how heavily leveraged companies navigate rising borrowing costs, tighter banking conditions and economic pressure in an environment where lenders are increasingly aggressive about recovering distressed loans.