This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On July 30, 2019, the High Court in Kenya made a landmark ruling in favor of Maxam Ltd, the local distributor of Heineken beer lager. The court reinstated the distribution agreement that Heineken East Africa Import Company Ltd and Heineken International B.V. had cancelled.
High Court Judge James Aaron Makau also awarded Maxam Sh1.7 billion for loss of business after the contract was unfairly terminated by Heineken. The judge found that the valuation of the lost business, Sh1,799,978,868, remained uncontroverted by the defendants, effectively admitting to the loss.
Maxam Ltd had been distributing Heineken beer in the Kenyan market since 2007, long before a formal distribution agreement was signed on May 21, 2013. The agreement required Maxam to invest in infrastructure, which they did, motivated by the promise of automatic extensions to their contract.
Justice Makau ruled that the firms had illegally and unfairly purported to unilaterally terminate the agreement, resulting in significant losses for Maxam.
