Viceroy owners acquire Kenya Wine Agencies

janet ndila

April 5, 2017 10:54 AM

On Tuesday, Distell announced that it had bought Centum’s entire 26.43 per cent stake in KWAL.

Wines and spirits in Supermarket

South African owners of Amarula and Viceroy are now the majority owners of Kenya Wine Agencies limited (KWAL) after buying more shares.

Making the announcement, managing director at Distell Africa Donovan Hegland stated that they wanted to expand geographically and acquire more partnerships and shares.

“Spirits has been the fastest growing segment of Kenya’s alcoholic beverage industry and growth is anticipated to remain robust going forward.

“Our strategy is to expand geographically through acquisitions of and/or partnerships with regional scale players who have leading brands, rich heritage, and strong platforms in their core markets,” Mr Hegland was quoted by Businessdaily.

Distell are now the majority owners of KWAL bringing its ownership in the alcoholic beverages market to 52.43 percent.

The announcement comes barely three months after Kenya’s antitrust regulator granted KWAL a five-year deal to import and distribute 16 brands made by South African brewer Distell.

janet ndila