South African Breweries Buys Into Coca-cola In Zam
SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES LIMITED
Press Release
SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES BUYS INTO COCA-COLA IN ZAMBIA
London/Johannesburg, Tuesday, 12 February 2002. South African Breweries
International (Africa) B.V. (SABI (Africa)) has announced that its Zambian
subsidiary, Zambian Breweries Plc (ZB Plc), listed on the Lusaka Stock
Exchange, has acquired the entire issued share capital of the Coca-Cola
bottler, Zambia Bottlers Limited (Zambia Bottlers) from a vendor consortium
including The Coca-Cola Export Corporation for a total consideration of
US$21.5 million, payable in cash.
The purchase consideration of US$ 21.5 million will be funded by a
combination of ZB Plc's internal resources and a proposed rights issue by ZB
Plc. This transaction will allow Zambian investors to gain exposure to
Zambia Bottlers via ZB Plc.
Zambia Bottlers currently operates two bottling plants in Kitwe and Lusaka,
which produce the full range of Coca-Cola products, and, in addition, market
and distribute a range of cordials. In 2001 Zambia Bottlers generated total
carbonated soft drinks (CSD) sales of some 445 000 hl. Presently Zambia
Bottlers accounts for approximately 92% of the CSD market in Zambia.
Andr Parker, managing director of SABI (Africa & Asia) said: "We are
extremely pleased to have acquired Zambia Bottlers. Today's deal is in line
with our strategy of driving down unit costs by extracting synergies through
the integration of beer and soft drinks operations".
The deal has the approval of the Zambian Competitions Commission.
Ends
Notes to editors
1. SABI (Africa) is a subsidiary of South African Breweries plc (SAB), the
world's leading brewer in developing markets, with interests in Africa,
Central and Eastern Europe, Central America and Asia. SAB is the world's
fifth largest brewer overall by volume with 108 breweries in 24 countries
and over 31,000 employees.
2. In the year to March 31 2001 SAB generated US$646 million pretax profit
from a turnover of US$4.184 billion. SAB is listed on both the London and
the Johannesburg stock exchanges.
For further information:
Anna Miller Salzman, Head of Investor Relations
SAB plc +44 (0) 20 7659 0106
Mob: +44 (0) 7973 837 070
Mitch Ramsay, Communications Manager, +27 (0) 11 407 1822
SABI Mob: +27 (0) 836 310 308
Ciaran Baker, Head of Communications +44 (0) 20 7659 0120
SAB plc Mob. +44 (0) 7979 954 493
This announcement is available on the SAB website at www.sabplc.com
Profile Group (Pty) Ltd. has taken care in preparing all information on this website, but does not accept any liability for errors or out-of-date information.
