Varun Beverages to acquire PepsiCo's South Africa bottler Bevco
Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), one of PepsiCo’s largest franchise bottlers worldwide, announced the acquisition of South Africa-based Beverage Company (Bevco) along with its wholly-owned subsidiaries at an enterprise value of Rs 1,320 crore, on Tuesday.
The proposed transaction is valued at an enterprise level of ZAR 3 billion (Rs 1,320 crore) and will help it expand its geographical footprint in the African market, the company said in a stock exchange filing.
BevCo, which has franchise rights from PepsiCo Inc, in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, manufactures and distributes licensed PepsiCo and own-branded non-alcoholic beverages in South Africa.
The company also has distribution rights for Namibia and Botswana.
According to the filing, Bevco achieved sales volumes of 117 million 8oz cases in FY23, and achieved net revenue of ZAR 3,615 million, or Rs 1,590 crore, in FY23.
BevCo bottles and sells PepsiCo’s brands including Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew. It also sells brands such as high caffeine drink Refreshhh, energy drink Reboost, carbonated beverage Coo-ee and fizzy Lemonade JIVE.
“The Board of Directors of the Company, at their meeting held today, considered and approved to acquire 100% stake in the business conducted by The Beverage Company (Proprietary) Ltd, South Africa along-with its wholly-owned subsidiaries (‘Bevco’) with an option to accept minority co-investment from large equity fund subject to regulatory and other approvals,” VBL said in a filing.
VBL, which bottles and distributes PepsiCo’s beverages in 27 states and 7 union territories in India, also holds the franchise for PepsiCo products in territories in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
