Africa’s largest Coca-Cola bottler, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), announced that it has received the requisite regulatory approval to acquire Fairy Bottling Zambia Limited and will commence its first day of operations effective today, February 4th, 2019. The Competition and Consumer protection commission is the state agency that is responsible for reviewing acquisitions between rivals, near rivals or competitors to safeguard public interest and prevent monopolies from taking hold.
According to a press statement availed to Zambian Business Times-ZBT today, Fairy Bottling which produces AquaSavana and Super Maheu (fermented maize beverage) as well as other soft drinks trademarks Acquisition has been approved. With this deal, CCBA has acquired the production facility in Lusaka and the sales and distribution infrastructure.
This follows the recent acquisition by CCBA of Kalundu Beverages Limited, trading as Coca-Cola Beverages Zambia (CCBZ). By combining the current sparkling soft drinks business of CCBA in Zambia with the state of the art production and distribution capability existing at Fairy, CCBA will be a more cost-effective operator in Zambia.
“We believe that the acquisition of Fairy Bottling allows us to achieve greater efficiencies which ultimately means better value for consumers and improved service to customers,” said Norton Kingwill, the managing director for CCBA’s Southern Africa region which includes Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
Kingwill confirmed that “the operations of Fairy Bottling will continue as normal and all employees will remain with Fairy after transfer”.
CCBA bottles and distributes beverages whose trademarks are owned by The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) or TCCC’s affiliated entities and is the world’s 8th largest Coca-Cola bottler by revenue. Including this most recent Zambian acquisition, CCBA now has over 16 000 employees across its operations in Africa with more than 30 bottling plants in 12 countries.
The creation of CCBA in 2016 was designed to advance a consolidated, more successful Coca-Cola system on the continent and now also in Zambia. CCBA aims to create more shared opportunities for the business, the local economy and communities served across the value-chain, including local suppliers and retailers.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) is the 8th largest Coca-Cola bottling partner worldwide by revenue and the biggest on the African continent, accounting for about 40% of all Coca-Cola volumes sold in Africa.
CCBA began its operations as a legal entity from July 2016 having been created as a direct result of a merger between non-alcoholic ready to drink bottling operations of The Coca-Cola Company, SABMiller and the Gutsche Family Investments and the now shareholders are the Coca-Cola Campany having 65.5% and Gutsche Family Investments 34.5%.
