Kenyan tycoon Peter Muthoka has pocketed about KSh2.5 billion ($19 million) from the sale of his airport cargo business, turning a debt-laden logistics asset into cash to expand his wider operations. Celebi Cargo GmbH, the Frankfurt arm of Turkish aviation group Celebi, acquired all shares in Transglobal Cargo Centre for $40.1 million on Dec. 23, 2025.

Transglobal, which operates as Africa Flight Services from Embakasi, handles more export cargo at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport than any other operator, controlling 33% of the market against 22 percent for Kenya Airways Cargo. It also handles roughly one-fifth of Kenya’s air freight imports and employs several hundred people.

Why Muthoka sold

Debt helped drive the transaction. Transglobal had borrowed to upgrade its facilities, while competition was intensifying and the company risked losing major contracts, including Emirates SkyCargo. Muthoka used proceeds from the sale to repay borrowings and strengthen Acceler Global Logistics, the freight company he founded in 1991 and continues to lead.

Muthoka has described the sale as part of a broader strategy to build rather than an exit from business. He has sold substantial holdings before, including his stake in CMC Motors, where he was the largest individual shareholder until Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Group acquired it for nearly $20 million in 2014.

Building beyond logistics

Much of Muthoka’s wealth has been tied to investments beyond the companies he runs. His stakes in listed Kenyan companies have been valued at more than KSh4.5 billion. He is known for buying blue-chip stocks and holding them for years, with past interests including Thika Coffee Mills, Kenya Alliance Insurance, dairy farming, motor dealing, confectionery manufacturing and wine.

Acceler Global Logistics generates more than $50 million in annual revenue and employs over 5,000 people. The World Customs Organisation recognised the group’s work in 2016. The business has also faced financial pressure: creditors filed a winding-up petition in 2018, seeking liquidation over money they said was owed.

A wider business footprint

Muthoka’s career began in public-sector trade promotion before he moved deeper into private business. He founded and became the first chief executive of Kenya’s Export Promotion Council and later served as Kenya’s commissioner-general at Expo 2000 in Hannover. Former President Uhuru Kenyatta later awarded him the Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart.

The transaction also shifts ownership at Nairobi’s main cargo gateway toward foreign operators. Celebi, which handles about 200,000 tonnes annually at Frankfurt, had no Kenyan operations before the deal. Kenya’s competition regulator cleared the acquisition without conditions, saying market shares would remain unchanged and Celebi was expected to invest in facilities, equipment and staff.