Nigeria: Heineken acquires remaining 20% in Distell Wines & Spirits Nigeria

Heineken has acquired the remaining 20% holding in the Distell Wines & Spirits Nigeria unit through its Nigerian Breweries subsidiary, Global Drinks Intel reported on March 19.

The transaction, for an undisclosed fee, sees Nigerian Breweries buy out Ekulo International and Next International Nigeria, which each held a 10% stake in Distell Nigeria. A statement added that Distell’s operations in the country had moved production from rented premises to Nigerian Breweries’ facilities, allowing it to increase its presence in the wine, spirits and ready-to-drink categories.

“The full acquisition will help to reduce complexities and make decision making faster in NB’s ambition to expand beyond beer,” Nigerian Breweries said in a filing to the Nigerian Exchange yesterday (18 March).

In June last year, Nigerian Breweries, in which Heineken has a majority holding, announced its acquisition of an 80% stake in Distell’s unit along with 100% of Heineken Beverages’ import business in Nigeria.

Two years ago, Heineken was granted approval for the acquisition of Distell, a purchase that was originally announced back in 2021.

Heineken spent around EUR2.4bn [US$2.53bn] on creating Newco, a new, 65%-owned entity to house the group’s existing operations in South Africa along with its export businesses in nine African markets including Kenya, Newco also took on Distell’s operations across Africa and 59.4% of Namibian Breweries.