End for United Insurance Company as Liquidator Gives Directive to Creditors

United Insurance Company Limited is finally set to go into liquidation following the appointment of the official liquidator of the company’s property.

In an insolvency notice issued by Kamal Anantroy Bhatt through Anant Bhatt LLP on September 25, 2025, the liquidator officially announced the convening of a creditors’ meeting as part of the legal process to wind up the troubled insurer. The meeting is scheduled to take place virtually on Thursday, October 2, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.

Bhatt, a licensed insolvency practitioner based in Mombasa, was appointed as the liquidator under the provisions of the Insolvency Act, 2015, acting on instructions from the High Court of Kenya sitting at the Nairobi Commercial and Tax Division, under Winding Up Cause No. 22 of 2006.

“Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the provisions of the Insolvency Act and further to the appointment of KAMAL ANANTROY BHATT, of P.O. Box 80766-80100, Mombasa, as Liquidator of UNITED INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED, a meeting of the creditors of the Company will be held on Thursday, 2nd October 2025 at 10 am,” the notice reads in part.

Creditors and other stakeholders interested in joining the virtual meeting have been asked to register their interest by contacting [email protected]. Upon registration, a video meeting link will be shared.

United Insurance Company Liquidator Kamal Anantroy Bhatt issues notice 

According to the notice, the agenda of the meeting includes:

1. Receiving a status update on the liquidation process;
2. Approval of payment to creditors;
3. Deliberation on the sale of collected assets;
4. Discussion of any other relevant business brought before the meeting.

The liquidator emphasized that all creditors and interested stakeholders are invited to attend.

United Insurance Company Ltd has been under statutory intervention for years, following its collapse under the weight of mounting claims and financial instability in the early 2000s.

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The appointment of Kamal Anantroy Bhatt as Liquidator of the company follows the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi’s (Commercial and Tax Division) judgment on July 12, 2024, which found the insurer liable for serious and persistent breaches of the Insurance Act and ordered its immediate liquidation.

The winding-up cause, initially lodged in 2006, took over 18 years to conclude, a delay that Justice A. Mabeya described as a “sad story” and an “indictment of [the] slow nature of how the wheels of justice in this country grind.”

The court noted that during this extended period, policyholders suffered from non-cover, and claimants and creditors awaited settlement without an outcome.

Details of the ruling and grounds for liquidation

The petition for winding up was filed by the Commissioner of Insurance in 2006, after the Company had already been placed under statutory management on July 15, 2005, for failing to comply with mandatory provisions of the Insurance Act.

The judgment found the Company was in serious and continuous breach of numerous provisions of the Insurance Act, warranting liquidation under the grounds set out in Section 123 of the Act, which include being unable to pay debts and being unable to fulfill the reasonable expectations of policy-holders.

The court found that United Insurance Company was grossly insolvent at the time it was placed under statutory management in 2005. According to the Statutory Manager’s report, the company had a deficit of Ksh 1.95 billion, with admitted liabilities far exceeding its assets.

Its liquidity ratio stood at just 0.03:1, significantly below the legally required threshold of 1:1—an indication that the insurer had virtually no ability to meet its short-term obligations.

In addition to its financial troubles, the court identified multiple breaches of the Insurance Act. The company had issued unsecured loans to its directors, shareholders, and a subsidiary—Fidei Holdings Limited—in violation of Section 71(1) of the Act. Over 50% of its assets were registered under Fidei Holdings, which the court ruled was a serious breach of asset management regulations.

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The insurer had also heavily invested in land, much of which proved illiquid and difficult to sell, due to legal caveats, lack of documentation, or location in remote areas. This made it impossible to convert the assets into cash to meet liabilities.

Moreover, the company failed to maintain proper books of account, settle claims within the mandatory 90-day period, or pay statutory levies, including the Insurance Training Levy, all in violation of various sections of the Insurance Act.

Defense

Although shareholders and other parties argued that the company was solvent, claiming it held assets worth over Ksh4 billion, the court rejected these claims. It noted that despite a 2012 court observation that the company could potentially sell land to raise funds, no meaningful progress had been made in over 12 years.

The High Court ultimately found the petition meritorious, ruling that “weighing the interests of the creditors/policy holders as against the shareholders of the company, with the proved breaches, it is in the best interests that the Company be wound up”. Kamal Anantroy Bhatt was subsequently appointed as the liquidator.

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