Mi Vida Homes After the Actis Exit: Who Owns the Nairobi Developer Now

Almost everything written about Mi Vida Homes online describes it as a joint venture between Actis, the British private equity firm, and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate of India. As of October 2025, that description is out of date. Both foreign sponsors agreed to sell out to a consortium led by the company's own management, and any buyer reading the older coverage is forming a view of the company's backing that no longer matches the paperwork.

That matters because institutional ownership was the main reason buyers trusted the company in the first place. A homebuilder funded by a London private equity house and a 160-year-old Indian construction group carries a different risk profile from one funded by a local investor consortium. Neither is inherently better. But a buyer signing an off-plan contract deserves to know which one they are dealing with.

What changed in October 2025

Construction Kenya, Business Today and the Kenyan Wall Street all reported in mid-October 2025 that Actis and Shapoorji Pallonji had signed a share purchase agreement selling their stakes to a consortium of local investors led by Mi Vida's management team. Construction Kenya quoted chief executive Samuel Kariuki saying management had "brought together a consortium of local institutional capital, and they have also invested themselves." The transaction was described as financed through a combination of equity and debt, with the value undisclosed.

Two things about that deal remain unresolved in public reporting. The individual members of the buying consortium have not been named anywhere. And every report described the agreement as subject to regulatory approvals, with no subsequent reporting confirming that those approvals were granted and the sale closed. Africa Private Equity News framed it as Actis exiting its Kenyan real estate business, quoting Actis principal Ravi Rughani referring to "the vision we set out to achieve in 2018."

For a prospective buyer, the practical question is which entity is on the sale agreement and who controls it today. That is a question for a lawyer with access to a CR12 company search, not for a website.

The original structure

The joint venture was publicly launched in 2019 with a stated commitment of KSh 12 billion. Construction Kenya and HapaKenya both reported the launch in July 2019, with Actis director Koome Gikunda and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate chief executive Venkatesh Gopalkrishnan quoted. Chris Coulson was appointed founding chief executive in April 2019, holding the role alongside his position as managing director of Garden City, the Actis-owned mixed-use scheme where Mi Vida's first projects were built.

Samuel Kariuki replaced Coulson as chief executive with effect from 1 June 2022, an appointment reported by Business Daily and the Kenyan Wall Street. He had previously been managing director of Centum Real Estate. He remains chief executive in the most recent 2026 reporting.

The equity split between Actis and Shapoorji Pallonji was never disclosed in any source I could find, and no full board list has been published, then or now.

The delivery record

This is where the company looks strongest, and where the evidence is mixed between independent confirmation and company statement.

The original Garden City scheme, reported variously as 624 or 628 units, completed its first phase in 2022. At 237 Garden City, 200 units were handed over to International Housing Solutions Kenya in October 2025, reported by the Kenyan Wall Street with IHS Kenya managing director Kioi Wambaa quoted. That bulk sale, covering roughly 30 percent of the project, had been agreed in August 2023. Phase 2 of 237 Garden City is still listed as under construction.

At Amaiya in Garden City, Construction Kenya reported in October 2025 that 221 of 740 planned units were complete. Newsline reported in July 2026 that Block C, 120 units, had been finished, with Blocks E and F opened for sale on 3 July 2026.

Keza Riruta launched in April 2024 as a 1,100-unit affordable scheme priced from KSh 1.98 million. The company stated in November 2025 that Phase 1 was complete and keys handed over. I could not find independent confirmation of that handover. Keza Laika in Ruaka and 156 Elara at Tatu City are both launched but unbuilt, the latter announced in April 2026 by Rendeavour, Tatu City's developer, at KSh 5.6 billion for 156 townhomes.

The company's own claim, published in July 2026, is more than 830 homes delivered and over 3,500 units in development. A Business Daily article repeating those figures is labelled sponsored content and should not be read as independent reporting. The nearest independent aggregate is Construction Kenya's October 2025 figure of 3,900 units across four Nairobi sites with a gross development value of KSh 52 billion.

The one documented delay in independent reporting is not recent. Business Daily reported in February 2020 that Nairobi County approval for the KSh 6.5 billion Garden City scheme arrived only that month, eight months after launch, with Coulson quoted saying "it has been a long wait."

Financing and partners

The named banking panel is unusually broad for a Kenyan developer. Kenyan Wall Street reported in October 2023 that Standard Chartered, NCBA, Stanbic, Absa, I&M, KCB, Co-operative Bank, HF Group, Gulf Bank and Equity Bank all offered mortgages against Mi Vida stock. KCB announced a construction debt and mortgage arrangement in April 2025. International Housing Solutions is a bulk institutional buyer rather than a lender. Rendeavour supplies the land and master plan at Tatu City.

Two Mi Vida schemes, Keza Riruta Phase 1A and Amaiya Block C, hold preliminary IFC EDGE green certifications issued by GBCI. That is a design-stage certification, not IFC financing, and the distinction is worth keeping straight.

What could not be verified

No Kenyan company registration number, incorporation date or registered office could be confirmed from a filing. Kenya's Business Registration Service sits behind authentication and a CR12 requires a paid request. This is a failed search rather than a finding, and nothing should be read into it.

I also found no court case, regulator action, National Construction Authority proceeding or documented buyer dispute involving the company. That too is an absence of findings rather than a clean bill of health, since Kenyan case law coverage is incomplete and construction enforcement records are not published in searchable form.

Buyers who want to check a developer's handover history against what its marketing claims can compare announced and completed projects on Bektu, which tracks delivery records across developer profiles including the Mi Vida Homes company page.

The sensible questions for anyone buying from Mi Vida Homes today are narrow and answerable. Which registered entity is the seller. Whether the October 2025 share transfer has completed and who now controls that entity. Which specific block has a completion certificate rather than a launch date. Those are worth more than any amount of reading about a joint venture that both original partners have agreed to leave.

For wider context on the market, see our guides to buying property in Kenya as a diaspora or foreign buyer and top property developers in Kenya for foreign buyers in 2026.