Heineken NV the world’s third-largest brewer, has agreed to buy a 57 percent stake in Nigeria’s Champion Breweries Plc from Consolidated Breweries Plc, which is majority owned by the Dutch beermaker.
Raysun Nigeria, a wholly owned Heineken unit, will acquire 513 million shares shares from Consolidated Breweries subject to regulatory approval, Amsterdam-based Heineken said in a statement dated June 23, which was received by e-mailed today.
The reorganization “will optimize Consolidated Breweries’ operations by reducing excess production capacity it no longer needs,” Heineken said in the statement. Raysun can adequately meet loss-making Champion Breweries’ financing and restructuring needs, the company said.
Champion posted a loss after tax of 758 million naira ($4.7 million) for the six months through June, compared with loss of 806 million a year earlier, it said in a July 31 filling to the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Revenue rose to 327 million naira from 281 million naira. The stock declined 10 percent to 15.68 naira as of 1:22 p.m. in Lagos, the commercial capital. It has more than tripled this year, compared with a 34 percent rise in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index.
Consolidated Breweries, in which Heineken owns just over 50 percent, according to its website, acquired the stake in Champion from Montgomery Ventures Inc.
[Bloomberg]
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