Kenya leads as EAC in private deals
By Phabian Mouk
NAIROBI – Disclosed private investment deals in East Africa rose 10 percent to 66 in the seven months to July 2026, from 60 a year earlier. Kenya accounted for 43 of them. Uganda had 12.
The count comes from I&M Burbidge Capital’s East Africa Financial Review for July 2026, as reported by the Business Daily and summarised by Money Academy KE. The firm tracks private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, commercial and private debt, and development finance institution (DFI) money.
Ethiopia and Tanzania recorded four deals each. Rwanda recorded three. Nairobi’s place as a regional finance and air hub is the reason Burbidge gives for Kenya’s share, including firms that want a regional seat.
Deal numbers went up. Disclosed value did not. The published total was $1.03 billion (KSh132.7 billion) to July 2026, down from $1.18 billion (KSh152.4 billion) in the same stretch of 2025. Burbidge said more values were kept private and that average tickets were smaller.
Private equity supplied 32 of the 66 transactions. Mergers and acquisitions supplied 20. The rest sat in venture capital, debt and DFI lines. The report did not publish a full sector table.
Burbidge wrote that governments across the region were still dealing with fiscal pressure, dear financing and external funding needs. “Contributing to a cautious investment environment,” the firm said. It also said investors still buy the long-term East Africa case, with capital now more selective.
The Middle East conflict is in the same report as context, not as a cause of the extra six deals. Higher inflation and risk premia, Burbidge said, have pulled some capital toward developed markets and raised the cost of debt for buyers using leverage.
Named Kenya deals in the review include Spiro, the electric motorcycle firm, raising $215 million (KSh27.8 billion) led by parent Equitane and Denmark’s Impact Fund Network for battery-swap sites. Spiro separately took $55 million (KSh7.1 billion) from China’s NewTrails Capital.
In July, India’s Varun Beverages Limited bought the dairy drinks, juices and bottled water business of Devyani Food Industries Kenya Limited for $32 million (KSh4.1 billion). In June, CFAO Mobility Kenya took a 99.4 percent stake in Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers (KVM) in Thika after putting in KSh2.4 billion.
AgDevCo added KSh1.94 billion to Victory Group, which farms and sells Nile tilapia on Lake Victoria. In January, Germany’s Celebi Cargo GmbH paid KSh5.2 billion for Transglobal Cargo Centre Limited at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the flower and vegetable freight handler formerly owned by Peter Muthoka.Mirova put KSh2.45 billion into Cold Solutions Kiambu, cold stores and logistics for farm produce and medicines. Those names are logistics, mobility, food and assembly. They are not a construction-pipeline tally. The review does not claim they are.
Sixty-six deals in seven months is a count of disclosed closings, not of every handshake in the region. Undisclosed tickets sit outside the $1.03 billion. The next Burbidge cut will show whether the extra volume holds after July.
A version of this report draws on I&M Burbidge Capital figures published by the Business Daily and on the summary posted by Money Academy KE.
