Diageo ends SABMiller deal
DIAGEO has agreed to buy the last 20 per cent stake in its Kenyan Breweries unit from SABMiller in a $225m (£137m) deal, as part of a wider plan to separate out the two firms’ ties in Africa.
East African Breweries, Diageo’s African arm, is also selling its 20 per cent stake in SABMiller’s neighbouring Tanzania Breweries in a public offering on the Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange.
The arrangement brings to an end a 10-year-old deal between East African Breweries and SABMiller, which allowed the firms to brew and market each other’s beers in Kenya and Tanzania.
Diageo said in 2009 that it was looking to terminate the arrangement.
The UK firm, best known in Africa for selling Guinness, Smirnoff and Tusker beer, said in April that sales on the continent rose by 10 per cent in the first fiscal half, and that it expected growth to accelerate this year.