By Sam Alfan.
Big Win for GeePark Ltd and Parksons Packaging E.A Ltd as Appellate Court Suspends Rent Deposit Orders in Sh563 Million Dispute
GeePark Limited and Parksons Packaging E.A Limited have scored a significant legal victory after the Court of Appeal suspended orders that required them to deposit disputed rent from a Sh563 million property—acquired through auction—into a joint account.
Appellate Court Judges Weldon Korir, Prof. Joel Ngugi, and George Odunga set aside the High Court’s directive that had compelled the two companies to deposit rent collected from the property into a joint account shared with Kigio Group Company Limited.
“The order of the High Court Judge Moses Ado dated 24th July 2025, requiring the applicants to deposit into escrow all rents collected from 4th September 2023 to the date of that ruling, is hereby stayed pending the hearing and determination of the intended appeal,” ruled the appellate judges.
However, the court maintained the order that all future rents be deposited into a joint interest-bearing account in the names of the advocates for GeePark Ltd, Parksons Packaging E.A Ltd, and Kigio Group Co. Ltd. This directive will take effect from the date of the ruling, with a slight variation in timing.
The ruling comes after GeePark and Parksons moved to the appellate court to challenge the earlier High Court order.
The legal battle stems from the contested sale of the Thika Business Centre, a commercial complex located on L.R. Nos. 4953/IV/45 and 46, Thika Municipality. The property was auctioned publicly on 25 May 2021.
Housing Finance Company of Kenya (HFCK), acting under its statutory power of sale, instructed Garam Auctioneers to sell the property. GeePark Ltd emerged as the highest bidder with a bid of Sh563 million and promptly paid the required 10% deposit (Sh56.3 million).
A certificate of sale was issued in favour of GeePark Ltd and Parksons Packaging E.A Ltd.
However, the transaction was challenged by Kigio Group Company Ltd, the chargor of the property, which obtained interim court orders purporting to stay the transfer. These orders were served at 2:17 p.m. on the day of the auction—after the fall of the hammer.
Kigio Group subsequently filed an application in the High Court to restrain HFCK from completing the transfer of the property to the two companies.
In a ruling delivered in November 2024, Justice Nixon Sifuna held that the equity of redemption was extinguished at the fall of the hammer and upheld the validity of the auction.
“This Court also found that Kigio had failed to demonstrate that HFCK was served with, or was aware of, the restraining order before the auction,” the judges noted.
In a separate matter, GeePark and Parksons sought injunctive relief concerning the rental income from the property, arguing that as purchasers at a public auction, they were entitled to the rent, which HFCK had continued to collect.
In September 2023, Justice Josephine Mong’are granted their application, issuing a mandatory injunction directing that all rent be paid into the applicants’ account. The judge also ruled that historical rent arrears—amounting to over Sh177 million—be applied to offset the companies’ loan obligations to HFCK.
Kigio Group, not having been a party to those proceedings, later challenged Justice Mong’are’s orders.
