Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the continent, acquired Equator Bottlers, the third largest in Kenya, after the green light was given by the Competition Authority in Kenya. The deal was made through CCBA’s subsidiary Coca-Cola Sabco Africa Limited which now owns Equator Bottlers.
Equator Bottlers is based in Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria, in Western Kenya. The company was founded in 1966 and had been previously owned by the Shah family, owners of struggling supermarket chain Nakummatt. Equator is one of the licensed Coca-Cola bottlers in Kenya – the third largest – and responsible for distributing the product in several of the western counties of the country.
The deal signals high hopes and potential in regards to the non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage market in Kenya as was mentioned by CCBA’s Managing Director for the International Division Jacques Vermeulen, who added that CCBA believed the acquisition enabled “a more efficient model that supports the growth potential”.
Coca-Cola is known as one of the products with most effective reach in terms of distribution in Africa, namely in the informal and traditional sectors. Mr. Vermeulen states that the acquisition would further improve the service in “both the formal and informal markets”.