Three Coca-Cola plants set to merge in Kenya

TCCC revealed that three of Coca Cola's bottling franchises in Kenya plan to merge in a bid to improve on their production capacity and enable them launch new packages convenient for market. Under the proposed plan which shareholders of the three firms are said to have approved; Kisii, Mount Kenya and Rift Valley Bottlers are set to merge to form a new company that will be called Almasi Beverages Limited.

The process is set to the next three to four months to finalize. The move is aimed at making the businesses more competitive and enable them move towards more convenient packaging such as plastics and cans as per current market trends.

The three companies have an average 9 per cent market share in the country but after consolidation will acquire a combined share of 28 per cent. Operations of the three firms are set to run as normal though some functions such as procurement will be merged into one to gain more bargaining power. Almasi will be the major shareholder in the constituent bottling firms. Authorities announced that the production will continue as it is at the moment. Employees will continue to be employees of the individual shareholding firms and not Almasi.

Authorities also guaranteed that no one will lose their jobs. Initial plans have constituted a board of nine directors for the Almasi board though the number could increase or reduce as plans get fine tuned. The merger is projected to unlock an extra Sh1.5 billion for each of the constituent companies currently valued at Sh4.2 billion.

This will be realized through deeper market penetration and expanded product portfolio. Almasi Beverages will target expansion into water, juices and energy drinks products. The merger deal is subject to further approvals from shareholders in upcoming extra ordinary annual general meetings and regulatory approvals.


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