High Court Greenlights Regulatory Process For Diageo-Asahi Transaction

East African Breweries PLC (EABL) has announced that the High Court has issued directions allowing regulatory approval processes related to a contested transaction to continue uninterrupted, following an application filed by Bia Tosha Distributors Limited.

In its ruling delivered on Wednesday, the Court expressly ordered that all regulatory approvals and preliminary statutory steps for the transaction should proceed as planned. The Judge acknowledged the significance of the transaction and declined to halt or paralyze the required regulatory processes.

However, the Court issued a temporary preservation order restraining only the final steps of the sale. The order will remain in force for 11 days, expiring on January 20, 2026. EABL noted that given the scale of the global transaction, which typically requires several months of regulatory engagement before completion, the interim order does not affect the overall transaction timeline.

The matter has now been referred to the Presiding Judge for reallocation and is scheduled to be mentioned on January 20, 2026, for further directions.

In a statement, EABL welcomed the Court’s decision, emphasizing that it allows the regulatory phases of the transaction to continue without disruption. The company also reiterated that the substantive case before the Court relates to a long-standing commercial dispute over local distribution routes and has no factual or legal connection to the shareholding of its parent company.

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