Tatu City, Kenya’s Largest Private City, Faces an Investor Showdown
KENYA · BUSINESS
Key Facts
—The new front: minority investors have asked Mauritius’ Supreme Court for leave to pursue London arbitration on behalf of Manhattan Coffee, the liquidated vehicle holding their Tatu City stake; the plea is heard next month.
—The claim: share issues in Cedar IV and Cedarsoc between 2014 and 2016, made under expired loan-conversion terms and at an undervalue, unlawfully diluted their holding, per the filing.
—The players: Kenyan businessman Steve Mwagiru and Belgian investor Etienne Delbar act through BlackKnight Holdings; the family of Bidco’s Vimal Shah holds the other half of Manhattan Coffee.
—The setback: the UK Privy Council ruled on May 16 that Mwagiru lacked standing to litigate for the company, clearing its shares for sale by liquidators.
—The origin: a 2018 London arbitration found the minority side defrauded Rendeavour’s SCF Holdings II over a $20 million deposit, awarding $15 million; unpaid, it led to Manhattan Coffee’s winding-up in 2023.
—The prize: Cedar IV owns 99.9 percent of Tatu City, the 5,000-acre private city off Nairobi’s Thika Road and Kenya’s flagship special economic zone.
—Meanwhile: Rendeavour signed a joint venture on July 3 giving Saudi Arabia’s Mabani Aljazeera just under half of the Jabali Towers development in the zone, per Billionaires.Africa.
Tatu City’s original Kenyan investors are mounting a last-ditch legal push. They are asking Mauritius’ highest court for permission to take the fight over Kenya’s largest private city to arbitration in London, even as their shares head for the auctioneer’s hammer.
Tatu City’s decade-old dilution claim returns
Steve Mwagiru and Etienne Delbar act through BlackKnight Holdings. They want the Supreme Court of Mauritius to let them start proceedings at the London Court of International Arbitration on behalf of Manhattan Coffee Investment Holdings, Business Daily reported this week.
The company is in liquidation, so no case can begin without the court’s leave. Filed in November 2025, the plea will be heard next month.
It targets what the applicants call the unlawful dilution of Manhattan Coffee’s stakes in Cedar IV and Cedarsoc. Those are the Mauritian vehicles behind Tatu City and coffee-estate owner Kofinaf.
“The share issuances were undertaken after the conversion periods had expired and at an undervalue, thereby unlawfully diluting Manhattan Coffee’s shareholding,” the supporting documents argue.
How a coffee farm became Kenya’s flagship private city
In the late 2000s, Mwagiru, his mother Rosemary Wanja, former central bank governor Nahashon Nyagah, Bidco chair Vimal Shah and Delbar assembled more than 5,000 acres of coffee farms off Thika Road. The bet rode the Vision 2030 boom and the new Thika Superhighway.
Ownership then went offshore. Cedar IV, a Mauritian company, owns 99.9 percent of Tatu City, and it is held by Rendeavour’s SCF Holdings II alongside Manhattan Coffee, the minority investors’ vehicle.
Kofinaf, the second company in the structure, holds the coffee estates that came with the land. Both vehicles sit under Mauritian law, which is why the decisive battles are fought in Port Louis and London rather than Nairobi.
The relationship soured fast, and the project’s story since has been one of courtrooms as much as construction. The development itself has kept growing into Kenya’s most advanced special economic zone, home to factories, schools and housing.
The fraud award that broke the partnership
In February 2018, an LCIA tribunal found Manhattan Coffee, Shah, Nyagah and Mwagiru had defrauded SCF Holdings II. They had claimed a $20 million deposit was paid to land vendors when it had not been. It awarded $15 million plus interest and costs.
The award was never challenged in time, and never paid. SCF petitioned in Mauritius to wind up Manhattan Coffee, which was liquidated in 2023.
On May 16 this year, the Privy Council, the final court of appeal for Mauritius, ruled Mwagiru had no standing to keep litigating in the company’s name. That opened the way for liquidators to sell its Cedar shares.
Mwagiru argues SCF could buy those shares and offset the price against its own arbitration debt, tightening Rendeavour’s grip on the project.
A ruling in the applicants’ favour would not restore their shares by itself. It would, though, put a live claim on the table just as those shares change hands.
A Saudi partner arrives as the fight resumes
Rendeavour, founded by New Zealand-born financier Stephen Jennings, is meanwhile deepening its bench. On July 3 it signed a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Mabani Aljazeera Holding Group, whose local unit Swan Properties took a stake of 50 percent minus one share in the company developing Jabali Towers, per Billionaires.Africa.
The twin towers, at 88,000 square metres, are planned as the mixed-use anchor of Tatu City’s special economic zone. New Gulf capital is arriving just as the ownership question returns to court.
What the case means for frontier investors
The saga is a caution on offshore structures: the fate of a Kenyan mega-project is being decided in Mauritius and London, far from Nairobi. Minority rights live or die in the paperwork.
It also shows how resilient the underlying asset is. Through nearly two decades of litigation, Tatu City has kept building, and kept drawing capital, from Kenyan factories to Saudi towers.
For foreign developers, that offshore predictability is precisely the point. For local minority investors, the lesson has been a hard one: the structure that attracted the capital also decided who kept it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Tatu City?
A 5,000-acre private city and special economic zone off Nairobi’s Thika Road, Kenya’s largest private urban development, owned 99.9 percent through the Mauritian company Cedar IV.
What are the minority investors asking for?
Leave from Mauritius’ Supreme Court to start London arbitration on behalf of Manhattan Coffee, arguing its stakes in Cedar IV and Cedarsoc were unlawfully diluted between 2014 and 2016.
Why is Manhattan Coffee in liquidation?
A 2018 LCIA award found it and its principals defrauded SCF Holdings II over a $20 million deposit; the unpaid $15 million award led Mauritian courts to wind the company up in 2023.
Who controls Tatu City today?
Stephen Jennings’ Rendeavour controls the project through SCF Holdings II, which holds Cedar IV alongside the liquidated minority vehicle Manhattan Coffee.
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