Kenya's Kipchimchim Group is in talks to buy tycoon David Langat's tea assets as the Ruto ally struggles under debt

Kipchimchim Group is in discussions to acquire tea assets linked to Kenyan businessman David Langat, a close ally of President William Ruto whose estates have twice been listed for forced auction over mounting bank debts, according to a report by Africa Intelligence.

The negotiations, if successful, would hand one of Kenya's most aggressive agricultural acquirers a foothold in assets tied to a man once counted among the most influential figures in Kenya's Rift Valley business community. They would also mark a significant chapter in Langat's fall from financial stability.

Langat, 59, built his DL Group from a trading business he started in the 1980s dealing in electronics and furniture. He grew it into a diversified conglomerate spanning agriculture, real estate, energy, hospitality and logistics. His most visible agricultural asset is DL Koisagat Tea Estate in Nandi County, a 1,342-acre property with 2.47 million tea bushes that in 2013 became one of the first estates in Kenya to grow and process purple tea for premium European and Chinese markets. The estate supplies Tetley UK and has a strong international reputation.

In 2018, Langat extended his tea footprint into Tanzania, spending approximately $46.5 million to acquire a 99% stake in 3 companies from British firm Rift Valley Corporation: Mufindi Tea and Coffee, Rift Valley Tea Solutions and Kibena Tea. The deal positioned DL Group as one of Tanzania's largest tea producers with an annual capacity of 11,000 tonnes.

But the debt problems came faster than the returns.

A string of financial distress signals

By July 2023, auctioneers acting on behalf of Transnational Bank had filed public notices to sell the Koisagat Tea Estate and a prime Mombasa property DL Group uses for tea handling and packaging. The debt cited was Sh2.1 billion. That auction was eventually called off without any public explanation.

Less than a year later, the same properties were relisted for a second forced auction scheduled for September 2024 in Westlands, Nairobi, this time with the estate valued at approximately $14.73 million against an underlying bank debt of approximately $15.5 million. The circumstances were awkward: a Ruto-appointed businessman watching his most valuable agricultural asset go to public auction while sitting on the National Investment Council the president had named him to.

In January 2024, a company linked to Langat won a Sh60 billion tender to supply machinery to the Kenya Ports Authority. The deal was blocked before it could be completed, reportedly by powerful interests within the system. In September 2024, at his mother's burial, Langat made remarks that were widely interpreted as a direct reproach of Ruto, suggesting the president had extracted campaign finance from him without delivering on promises. A political activist who posted more explicit allegations about the dynamic was arrested and arraigned in court the following month.

Who Kipchimchim is

Kipchimchim Group began with a single kiosk in Kericho in the 1990s, founded by Samuel Kipsoi Kipterer Ngetich. His children, led by Alfred Soi and Benard Soi, now run an operation that spans 7 tea factories, a 1,250-tonne-per-day sugar plant, 13 supermarkets, 10 bakeries, 28 restaurants, mining, construction and logistics. The group supports 54,000 smallholder tea farmers and employs over 4,500 people directly.

Its tea expansion has been relentless. Its factories sit across Nandi and Bomet counties at elevations that produce some of Kenya's best leaf. Its 2023-commissioned Stegro Tea Factory operates as an Export Processing Zone, allowing it to sell directly to international buyers without local tax complications.

The group has also moved aggressively into sugar. It won a 30-year lease for state-owned Muhoroni Sugar Company and is building the Soit Sugar Factory in Trans Mara County in a consortium with other investors. The pattern is consistent: identify underperforming or strategically positioned assets and move to absorb them.

Langat's tea operations fit that template exactly.

Neither Kipchimchim nor representatives linked to Langat commented publicly on the reported talks. Kenya's tea sector is under pressure from rising production costs, currency volatility and softer global prices, conditions that favour better-capitalised buyers willing to move while others are squeezed. The deal, if it closes, will be watched as an indicator of how Kenya's agricultural elite is reshaping itself amid political shifts and financial stress.