Royal Media Services owner SK Macharia in 2021 lost control of his late son’s Sh. 1.2 billion estate to his grandson.

This was after the High Court issued orders revoking the letters that had given SK the right to manage the estate in 2019.

“The circumstances dictate that this court re-looks the issues of representation in this estate afresh and make appropriate orders after hearing the parties. It is also clear to me that as at the time the two grants were issued, the sole beneficiary was a minor,” Justice Stella Mutuku had ruled.

SK Macharia and his grandson Adam Kamau Macharia had been engaged in a bitter fight over Sh. 1.2 billion property.

The disputed estate comprised of shares in more than six companies that have investments in insurance, communications and real estate.

These are Directline Insurance, Serenity Media Productions Ltd, Big Five Conservancy, Bushfire Media Distributors, Toi Redevelopment and Harbour Capital Ltd.

Other disputed properties are nine vehicles – two Range Rover cars, Land Rover, Jaguar, Jeep, Porsche 911, BMW, Trailer and Land Rover Discovery — four motorbikes and five residential houses in Nanyuki, Loresho (Nairobi), Kyuna crescent (Nairobi), Kibarage (Nairobi) and Mugumo crescent (Nairobi).

In court papers, Kamau had said that he is the only grandson of Macharia’s son, John Gichia Macharia, who died in a road accident in 2018.

Gichia was until his death the Executive Director of Direct Line, an insurance company. He succumbed to injuries sustained from a road accident along the Southern bypass. Gichia passed on at the Karen Hospital in Nairobi where he had been rushed to.

Kamau claimed that SK Macharia had taken full control of the business and all the affairs of the entities without consulting or informing him or any family members.

“There is an imminent risk of his grandfather through third parties evicting him and his mother from the said house,” court papers read.

“The grant of letters of administration was issued on April 5 2019, to Dr Samuel Kamau Macharia and Serah Njeri Macharia, being the parents of the deceased. But it is on record that Serah had filed a notice of withdrawal, hence, the risk of leaving only one administrator of the state to SK Macharia who is not a dependent of the estate herein.”

How State almost seized SK Macharia’s assets, Royal Media in 2020

A report that appeared in the Nairobi Law Monthly added that “at stake (was) a Sh. 389 million life insurance, a pension payout whose beneficiary is the grandson, Adam Kamau Macharia as per the deceased father’s wish, and a multi-million estate left behind by Gichia.”

Kamau had also said that he was “the heir of his late father’s property which include 600,000 shares in AKM Investments Ltd that owns Kyuna estate L.R No. 209/7799, Mugumo Estate L.R. No. 7752/258, Kibarage estate L.R No 7752/258, 3.7 million shares in DirectLine Assurance Limited.

And also included 500 shares in Serenity Media Productions, 350 shares in Big Five Conservancy Limited, 500 shares in Bushfire Media Distributors, as well as shares in Big Five Lotto, Toi Development Limited and Harbour Capital Limited.”