EGYPT – Coca-Cola HBC, the world’s third-largest Coca-Cola anchor bottler has revealed plans of pumping investments worth US$1 billion into the Egyptian market, after finalizing acquisition of Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Egypt (CCBCE).

This was revealed by the board members of Coca-Cola Hellenic during a meeting with Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli.

Madbouli highlighted the government’s eagerness to provide all kinds of support to the private sector, due to its key role in creating new jobs and boosting the state’s economic growth.

The premier praised the successful and prolonged investments of Coca-Cola in Egyptian market, and welcomed the acquisition of the Swiss-based soft drinks bottler of Coca-Cola Egypt, a deal that reflects the confidence of the global company in the Egyptian economy due to the balanced economic and fiscal policies implemented by the government.

Coca-Cola Hellenic announced its plan of acquiring the Egypt operations in August, eyeing 94.7% stake from the majority shareholders for an agreed combined purchase price of US$427 million.

CCBCE was founded in 1994 as a joint venture company between The Coca-Cola Company through the TCCC Seller and MAC Beverages Limited (MBL) together with certain of its affiliated entities.

MBL, a privately owned group with investments in the beverages and packaging sectors in the MENA region and certain of its affiliated entities and individuals currently have an approximately 52.7% shareholding in CCBCE.

While the TCCC Seller has an approximately 42% shareholding in the company, with the balance of the shares held, and will continue to be owned by a diverse group of minority shareholders.

Abdul Galil Besher, Chairman of MAC Beverages Limited and CCBCE said, “We are very pleased to pass on to Coca-Cola HBC the ownership torch of CCBCE.

“As a leading anchor bottler of the Coca-Cola system, we believe that Coca-Cola HBC will accelerate CCBCE’s growth ambitions, by combining its expertise, breadth of knowledge, know-how and critical mass, with the company’s deep market knowledge developed over our multi-decade presence in Egypt.”

CCBCE is a leading producer of non-alcoholic ready to drink beverages in Egypt operating five bottling plants.

The company recorded volume of approximately 275 million- and 266-million-unit cases and net sales revenue of EGP7.4 billion and EGP 7.2 billion for the years ended 31 December 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Finalization of the proposed transaction will enable Coca-Cola HBC access the second largest Non-Alcoholic Ready To Drink market (NARTD) in Africa by volume, building on existing scale in Nigeria.

CCBCE is also set to leverage on Coca-Cola HBC’s proven route-to-market capabilities and 70 years of experience operating in emerging markets to increase penetration of The Coca-Cola Company’s brand portfolio and drive category leadership.

Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE