Diageo, the British liquor and breweries giant, has sold its Meta Abo Brewery found in Ethiopia to the French multinational Castel Group, which owns BGI Ethiopia, local media reported.
According to the weekly English newspaper, Capital, sources have disclosed that the management of Meta Abo were briefed about the takeover of the brewery by Castel Group. The report meanwhile didn’t disclose the transaction value. BGI has been the major brewery in Ethiopia with over 50 percent market share of beer market of the country.
It has been running five major brewery facilities including Raya Brewery which it bought a few years ago. BGI Ethiopia of Castel Group now owns breweries in the capital Addis Ababa, in Hawassa, and in Wolqite (Zebidar Brewery) southern region of Ethiopia, Kombucha in Amhara region, and in Raya area that used to be in Tigray region before the ongoing war in the northern part of Ethiopia.
Meta Abo was privatized by the Government of Ethiopia in 2012 and sold to Diageo for $225 million. In 2015 Diageo has invested an additional $119 million for expansion of bottling line.
Including its winery and vineyard found in Zeway Oromia Region, BGI is now one of the top taxpayers in Ethiopia. Established in 2012, the winery produces 12,000 Hectoliters of different wine varieties annually under the brand names Acacia and Rift Valley.
The company claims that BGI Ethiopia’s products are distributed by partner agents in all corners of the country and exported internationally to North America (USA and Canada), Europe (UK, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherland, etc.) Middle East (Israel and UAE), Australia, Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, Djibouti, Asia (China, Japan, among others.