Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL), is a first line manufacturer, importer and distributor of wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages
History
The company was founded in 1969 by the Government of Kenya, to consolidate and streamline the importation and distribution of wine and spirits in the country. The agency opened its first wholly owned winery in 1982. Initially, KWAL enjoyed a monopoly, which was broken when the country's economy was liberalized. In the beginning, KWAL was a 100% parastatal, owned through the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC)[2] now Kenya Development Corporation (KDC).
In 2012, KWAL and the Distell Group Limited fought each other's in a legal feud when Distell started to bypass KWAL to distribute its beverages in Kenya. KWAL was the sole distributor of 80% of Distell beverages in Kenya. At this point, the Kenyan government had already considered selling a fair share of KWAL to Distell, but the process had been delayed.[3]
In 2014, the process of divestiture by the government was kick-started when 26% shareholding was sold to the South African