The regional competition watchdog has opened a formal inquiry into a proposed deal that would see Inspired Evolution Managers Limited acquire a 21.6% stake in Cold Solutions East Africa Holdings Limited (CSEAHL), a move set to shape the future of cold chain logistics in Kenya and the wider region.
- •Inspired Evolution, through its Evolution III Fund, is a pan-African private equity firm targeting sustainable infrastructure and climate-resilient assets.
- •The fund operates across several COMESA member states, including Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Mauritius and Zimbabwe.
- •The target company, CSEAHL, runs large-scale, energy-efficient cold storage and logistics hubs across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Mauritius, placing the deal firmly within markets experiencing rapid growth in temperature-controlled supply chains.
Kenya is expected to be a major focal point of the inquiry given the country’s expanding food distribution networks, rising demand for pharmaceutical cold storage, and ongoing concerns about market concentration in logistics corridors around Nairobi and Mombasa. Cold Solutions has positioned itself as a transformative player, developing modern, integrated cold storage hubs viewed as essential to reducing post-harvest losses and improving export competitiveness.
Inspired Evolution’s US$20mn planned investment is framed as a pure financial injection aligned with the fund’s strategy of backing climate-smart infrastructure. Both parties told the Commission that the capital is expected to accelerate the rollout of cold chain assets across East Africa, especially in Kenya where demand has outpaced supply for years. The new capital could unlock projects that have stalled amid high development costs and energy-efficiency hurdles.
Under the inquiry, the CCC will evaluate whether the deal could distort competition, particularly in markets where existing cold storage capacity is limited and fragmented. While Cold Solutions is ramping up investments, Kenya’s cold chain space also includes private cold room operators, logistics firms, and vertically integrated food suppliers.
