This archive report was first published on 6 May 2020.
On May 6, 2020, Carrefour Kenya announced that it had secured a Sh3 billion loan from Standard Bank Group to expand its supermarket business in the country.
The loan, provided by South Africa's Standard Bank Group, will enable Carrefour Kenya to further expand its operations in the country.
Carrefour Kenya has been one of the major players in the local retail market since its launch in 2016 at The Hub in Karen, Nairobi.
The retailer has grown rapidly since then and now has seven stores across the country, including branches at Nairobi's Two Rivers Mall, Thika Road Mall, The Junction, and Sarit Centre.
Its expansion and that of others like Naivas International Limited have been enabled by the collapse of the former retail giant Nakumatt Holdings.
According to Standard Bank's latest annual report, the loan was provided to Majid Al Futtaim, Dubai's leading shopping mall, retail, and leisure group, to expand its retail presence in Kenya.
It was not immediately clear whether the multinational lender provided the loan directly or through its local banking subsidiary Stanbic Holdings.
The new credit facility signals further expansion and replaces earlier loans that Carrefour Kenya had taken to launch its operations.
Carrefour Kenya's expansion can be seen through a sharp increase in its asset base. The company reported total assets of Sh7.1 billion in the year ended December 2019 compared to Sh4.5 billion the year before, a growth of 57.2 percent.
