Jubilee Holdings Buys Coca-Cola East Africa’s Former Head Office

Jubilee Holdings purchased Coca-Cola East Africa’s former head office located in Upper Hill, Nairobi, at a cost of 1.1 billion shillings.

The insurance firm is expected to begin its operations in the Grade A Commercial Office building totaling 116,350 SQFT and sitting on a 3.2-acre piece of land, in September 2022, upon completion of the renovations being done.

Currently, the insurer’s offices are located at the Jubilee Insurance House along Wabera Street in Nairobi’s CBD, where they will lease out part of it, whilst also continuing to house its agents and customer service operations.

Additionally, Jubilee Holdings also has an interest in purchasing other office buildings including; Nairobi’s IPS Building, Nation Centre, and Courtyard, among others, which in turn will increase its investment magnitude in the real estate market.

The decision by Jubilee to take up the office building in Upper Hill as its head office is driven by;

1. The need to acquire better quality office spaces due to the limited supply of Grade A offices in Nairobi’s CBD currently at 5.9 percent. 

2. Preference for Green Buildings thereby posing the Coca Cola East Africa Green building as a good match, 

3. Favorable prices with the building having been sold to the insurer at Kshs 1.1 bn, 45.0% lower than the original listing price of Kshs 2.0 bn in June 2019.

4. Availability of funds with the insurer having realized strong growth in its FY’2021 earnings, evidenced by a 67.0% net profit growth to Kshs 6.8 bn in the review period. 

In terms of performance, according to the Cytonn Q1’2022 Markets Review, Upper Hill office spaces recorded relatively high selling prices at 12,409 shillings per SQFT compared to the market average of 12,113 shillings per SQFT.

The insurer bought the 116,350 SQFT office building at Kshs 1.1 bn thereby realizing a 9,454 shillings per SQFT buying price, which is 21.9 percent lower than Upper Hill’s average selling prices for office spaces.

This signifies a good deal for the insurer, as it was able to leverage the affordability of the office space as the basis for purchasing the building.

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