TRIFIC SEZ is pleased to announce that it has secured an investment of Kes.6 billion (US$47.5 million)
from Vantage Capital, an African mezzanine finance investor. This investment will be utilized by TRIFIC
SEZ to acquire and fit out its first office tower, the TRIFIC North Tower, a 14,975 square metre
property in the Two Rivers precinct located in the Gigiri area of Nairobi County in Kenya. Additionally,
TRIFIC SEZ will develop a new office tower of 76,800 square metres of leasable space to host
additional SEZ enterprises.
TRIFIC SEZ aims to create an integrated business environment, offering world-class infrastructure,
advanced technology, and a robust regulatory framework. It is designed to provide businesses with a
competitive edge on a global scale, leveraging Kenya’s SEZ framework.
Already, TRIFIC SEZ has secured bookings for the TRIFIC North Tower from fourteen (14) different
SEZ enterprises and has a pipeline of additional SEZ enterprises looking to come into its zone
necessitating the development of additional office towers. Of the SEZ enterprises that have already
booked space within the TRIFIC SEZ, it is estimated that there will be 10,000 jobs created and attract
foreign direct investment into the country of US$65 million. It is forecasted that this will facilitate the
export of services worth US$390 million annually. These SEZ enterprises are spread across different
sectors, including business processing outsourcing firms (BPOs), shared services centres, regional
headquarters and investment holding corporations.
A key attraction for SEZ enterprises coming into the TRIFIC SEZ is the direct access to the wider
Two Rivers ecosystem, which includes residential developments, dining and lifestyle options, retail
offerings, and entertainment venues, all curated to enhance the work environment for businesses and
their employees.
TRIFIC SEZ Chief Executive Officer, Brenda Mbathi, said, “We are very excited to have been able to
attract such an investment into our business. It is a strong show of confidence in the great opportunity
that lies in the ecosystem we have created in a short time. TRIFIC SEZ was only licensed late last year
but we have been able to make great strides in attracting SEZ enterprises into our zone”.
Warren van der Merwe, Managing Partner at Vantage Capital, said “We are proud to partner with
Centum on this remarkable project, which will generate hundreds of jobs and attract much-needed
foreign direct investment to Kenya.
Roshal Ramdenee, Associate Partner at Vantage Capital, added “We are excited to partner with
Centum on the development of the TRIFIC SEZ. From our interactions with the Centum team, we
have been impressed by their deep real estate expertise and commitment to attracting businesses to
Kenya by effectively marketing its favourable operating environment. We are confident that TRIFIC
SEZ will play a key role in enhancing Kenya’s competitiveness as a premier investment destination on
the continent.”
TRIFIC SEZ is a subsidiary of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed Centum Investment
Company Plc. “We are very pleased to have created an opportunity that has been able to attract KES6
billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) and goes to show that Kenya continues to be an attractive
investment destination for foreign investors. The various mechanisms instituted by the Government,
such as the regime for Special Economic Zones in the country, shows that Kenya continues to make
great strides in ensuring we remain globally competitive,” said Centum’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr
James Mworia.
TRIFIC SEZ was represented in the transaction by Anjarwalla & Khanna Advocates, a member firm of
the Africa Legal Network (ALN).
About TRIFIC SEZ
TRIFIC is the only services-focused Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Kenya, offering new and exciting
prospects for global, regional, and Kenyan service-oriented business enterprises seeking a competitive
and advantageous base to access international markets.
Spanning over 64 acres within Nairobi’s prestigious diplomatic blue zone and with a further robust
development capacity of 1.2 million square meters, TRIFIC provides global businesses and talent with
a world-class environment to thrive, offering a world-class live-work-play ecosystem with grade A
offices, residential, hospitality, and social amenities.
TRIFIC SEZ is owned by Centum Investment Company PLC ), a Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed
investment group established in 1967, with interests spanning real estate, energy, industrial operations,
technology, media, telecommunications, and financial services. Centum boasts a strong track record
of delivering significant real estate projects, including Two Rivers Mall, and has completed over 2,000
residential units in Kenya and Uganda.
About Vantage Capital
Vantage Capital Group was established in 2001 and is the largest independent pan-African mezzanine
finance fund manager on the African continent. It has raised funds of US$ 1.6 billion in seven distinct
mezzanine and renewable energy debt funds as well as in a technology fund and has to date made 61
investments across the African continent.
Vantage has an office in Johannesburg, employees based in Cape Town, Nairobi, Lagos, Cairo, London,
Dubai and Paris, and targets investment opportunities, with a focus on mezzanine finance, of US$ 10 –
50m across more than a dozen key African markets. Mezzanine finance is an intermediate form of risk
capital, which is situated between senior debt, the lowest risk tranche of the capital structure, and
equity, the highest risk. It combines elements of both debt and equity thereby providing companies
with long-term funding on terms which are less dilutive to shareholders than pure equity
