Stanbic Bank Set to Auction Karuturi Assets over Loan

Stanbic Bank has been allowed to auction assets of Karuturi Limited over a debt of Ksh.1.8 billion. This is following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of an appeal submitted by Karuturi’s shareholders who argued that they had not been given an opportunity to challenge a contested audit report.

The audit report revealed that the flower firm had been accumulating debt despite being placed under receivership back in 2014 after failing to service a Ksh.383 million loan borrowed from Stanbic Bank.

The owners, Surya Holdings Ltd, and THEA Holdings were held liable for the debts incurred during the receivership and they objected and proceeded to file a complaint at the Court of Appeal.

However, the court ruled that the firm should settle their Ksh.410 million pre-receivership loans within 60 days, and to settle Ksh.640 million the company owes creditors other than the bank and Ksh.680 million advanced to the firm by the bank after it was placed under receivership.

The owners will also have to pay Ksh.100 million as the expense incurred to preserve the assets of the company while it was under receivership.