Germany’s Celebi Cargo GmbH has received regulatory approval to acquire Transglobal Cargo Centre Ltd, the company behind Africa Flight Services (AFS) at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in a transaction valued at about US$40.1 million or KSh 5.2 billion.
The Competition Authority of Kenya gave the green light to the deal, which sees Celebi take over a business owned by Kenyan entrepreneur Peter Muthoka. AFS is a major player at JKIA, handling close to one third of export cargo, notably flowers, fresh produce and other time-critical shipments. Beyond cargo processing, the firm also provides warehousing and ground handling services, placing it squarely at the heart of Nairobi’s logistics ecosystem.
JKIA currently moves around 400,000 tonnes of cargo annually, with volumes projected to rise by roughly 5 percent each year over the next five years, well ahead of global averages. On imports, AFS accounts for about a fifth of total cargo, trailing Kenya Airways Cargo, which leads the market with a 32 percent share. Other competitors include Swissport and Signon Group.
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Celebi, which operates at Frankfurt Airport and handles around 200,000 tonnes of cargo a year, had no prior presence in Kenya. The acquisition therefore marks its entry into the East African market as it eyes regional expansion.
The competition regulator said the transaction met the country’s mandatory notification threshold, given that the combined turnover of the parties exceeds KSh 1 billion. It also concluded that the deal would not distort competition, threaten jobs, or disadvantage small businesses, since Celebi was not previously active in the Kenyan market.
According to CAK, the ownership change will not affect market concentration in cargo handling because the acquirer brings no existing local operations into the merger. The authority added that the transaction is unlikely to raise any competition concerns.
The takeover underlines growing foreign interest in Kenya’s air cargo industry, a sector where efficiency, speed and reliability remain critical to sustaining export growth.
