Cytonn Investments Properties, an outfit owned by one Edwin Dande, could finally be up for sale of what is left to recover KSh 11billion that gullible investors pumped into Cytonn’s unregulated products.
Cytonn High Yield Solutions and Cytonn Real Estate Project Notes, described by the regulator and the courts as unregulated, collected billions from over 3,000 Kenyans, which was then put into real estate projects that stalled.
Cytonn Investments could not give back the returns it had promised. When investors failed to get the 18% interest, the matter went the Capital Markets Authority before ending up Court.
Those who bought into the Cytonn scheme are still waiting to get their money back. Some have lost their life savings while others have seen their retirement funds go up in smoke. All of them trusted a company that promised them high returns in real estate.
Cytonn Grand Plan and the cracks in the plot
“Cytonn High Yield Solutions and Cytonn Real Estate Project Notes were structured as special purpose vehicles, marketed to retail investors with a promise of high real estate returns. They were not licensed as Collective Investment Schemes,” said Dedan Maina, a Certified Financial Analyst.
Cytonn High Yield Solutions (CHYS) and Cytonn Real Estate Project Notes (CPN) collected billions from investors in 2020, just after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Kenyan shores.
With the pandemic affecting construction work, Cytonn could not meet its financial obligation, forcing aggrieved investors to run first to the Capital Markets Authority then to the High Court.
Cytonn was then placed under liquidation, after a fierce legal battle that lasted for three years, on January 6th, 2023.
Dande and his partners fought back, filing a total of 19 appeals, which were all dismissed. The Official Receiver is now selling the Cytonn assets to recover what is left.
Dande, the mastermind who resigned from Britam with other individuals, to form Cytonn Investments, evokes painful memories that are different when these investors first signed up.
The hard lesson here is one Kenya’s middle class keeps learning the hard way: when returns sound too good to be true, ask harder questions. Demand audited accounts. Understand where your money is going. “High yield” is not a strategy – it is a marketing phrase.
Now some KSh11 billion is on the line. The auctions begin today, March 17th 2026. Whatever is recovered will be shared among 3,000+ investors. It will not be enough. But it is a step toward accountability.
Cytonn Investments is an investments and real estate company, with offices in Nairobi – Kenya and DC Metro area.
It is primarily focused on offering alternative investment solutions to global institutional investors, individual high net-worth investors, local institutional investors and diaspora investors interested in the East-African region.
Cytonn’s alternative investments solutions are based on four main products: real estate, structured solutions, private equity and advisory.
Most of the investment opportunities in Sub Saharan Africa are not in the listed markets, hence the firm’s focus on alternative investments to find uncommon value and returns for its clients.
Some of the most notable Cytonn real estate projects include Applewood, nestled in the heart of the exclusive leafy suburbs of Karen, Applewood Villas provides an opportunity to buy into a unique development in a serene environment. These 18 luxury homes, with each villa sitting on ½ acre, provide spacious living areas surrounded by expansive luscious compounds.
ALSO READ: Cytonn Empire: How COVID-19 Pandemic Wreaked Havoc On Its Grand Real Estate Pipeline
Leave a comment