{"id":13221,"date":"2026-01-09T12:51:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/13221\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T12:51:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T12:51:05","slug":"kenyan-court-postpones-case-seeking-to-halt-diageos-2-3-billion-sale-of-eabl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/13221\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenyan court postpones case seeking to halt Diageo&#8217;s $2.3 billion sale of EABL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>NAIROBI, Jan 9 (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya&#8217;s High Court on Friday moved to January 20 the hearing of a case seeking to stop Diageo&#8217;s $2.3 billion sale of its local subsidiary EABL to Japan&#8217;s Asahi Holdings <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/2502.T\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">(2502.T), opens new tab<\/a>.Diageo <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/DGE.L\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">(DGE.L), opens new tab<\/a>, said last month it had agreed to sell its 65% stake in East African Breweries Limited <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/companies\/EABL.NR\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">(EABL.NR), opens new tab<\/a> to the Japanese brewer. Diageo is selling non-core assets to reduce debt, as well as offset the impact of U.S. tariffs and a fall in sales driven by shifting consumer patterns.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"promo-box\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__promo-box__hVl8h\"> Sign up  <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/kenyan-court-postpones-case-seeking-halt-diageos-23-billion-sale-eabl-2026-01-09\/undefined?location=article-paragraph&amp;redirectUrl=%2Fworld%2Fafrica%2Fkenyan-court-postpones-case-seeking-halt-diageos-23-billion-sale-eabl-2026-01-09%2F\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kenyan beer distributor Bia Tosha filed the case to try to block the deal this week over pending litigation dating back to 2016, sending Diageo&#8217;s shares lower. EABL has said the case has no legal or factual link to the transaction.<\/p>\n<p>Bahati Mwamuye, a judge at the court, said the deal parties could take preliminary steps such as seeking regulatory approvals, as long as the transaction was not finalised by January 20, when the court will give further directions.<\/p>\n<p>Deal parties have said they expect completion in the second half of this year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We welcome the court&#8217;s decision to allow the regulatory phases of this transaction to continue,&#8221; EABL said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__extra_small__8Buss body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__extra_small_body__Bfz20 sign-off-module__text__LQAMP\">Reporting by Duncan Miriri. Additional reporting by Emma Rumney. Editing by Mark Potter<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__element__5eCce article-body-module__trust-badge__5mS3f\">Our Standards: <a data-testid=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thomsonreuters.com\/en\/about-us\/trust-principles.html\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__medium__2Rl30 text-module__small__sph8i link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC link-module__with-icon__qlg76\">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersagency.com\/en\/licensereuterscontent\/?utm_medium=rcom-article-media&amp;utm_campaign=rcom-rcp-lead\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"button-module__link__A3sD0 button-module__secondary__70gBu button-module__round__QDFgq button-module__w_auto__Sem-F\" data-testid=\"LicenceContentButton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Purchase Licensing Rights<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAIROBI, Jan 9 (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya&#8217;s High Court on Friday moved to January 20 the hearing of a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[488,2096,4590,685,7074,7075,7076,7077,686,2872,1762,7082,1783,698,710,703,707,701,709,9037,715,495,1787,1784,1788,1782,711,6610,492,4892,491,493,7083,7084,1397,714,4955,1395,690,1880,7086,6571,2873,3164,80,2761,7078,7079,9036,1405,3862,1766,2762,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-13221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kenya","8":"tag-afr","9":"tag-asia","10":"tag-asxpac","11":"tag-bact","12":"tag-beer","13":"tag-beer1","14":"tag-bev","15":"tag-bevs","16":"tag-biz","17":"tag-clj","18":"tag-cmpny","19":"tag-cmss","20":"tag-destabn","21":"tag-destabx","22":"tag-destafn","23":"tag-destbnx","24":"tag-destdnp","25":"tag-deste","26":"tag-destfun","27":"tag-destj","28":"tag-destozabsm","29":"tag-destozatpm","30":"tag-destpco","31":"tag-destpsc","32":"tag-destrbn","33":"tag-destrnp","34":"tag-destucdptest","35":"tag-destuki","36":"tag-eafr","37":"tag-easia","38":"tag-emea","39":"tag-emrg","40":"tag-envs","41":"tag-envs1","42":"tag-europ","43":"tag-fin","44":"tag-fobe","45":"tag-gb","46":"tag-gen","47":"tag-inds","48":"tag-iser","49":"tag-jp","50":"tag-judic","51":"tag-ke","52":"tag-kenya","53":"tag-legal","54":"tag-liqs","55":"tag-liqs1","56":"tag-mngiss","57":"tag-mtpix","58":"tag-ncyc","59":"tag-publ","60":"tag-reuters-legal","61":"tag-weu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}