By Yohannes Anberbir

The famous Heineken Beer may be on its way to Ethiopia. A delegation from the Netherland’s Heineken Holding, producer of the internationally renowned beer brand visited Ethiopia this week intending to put up their factory here in Ethiopia jointly with Kangaroo Industrial Group, a major local distributor of the brand.
A Team of the delegation led by East African marketing manager of Heineken stayed in Addis Ababa for three days last week.

The delegation met with owners of Kangaro Industrial Group which currently supplies Heineken to the local market.

Solomon Gizaw was first authorized by Heineken Holding to distribute the brand to the Ethiopian market; however an agreement made in January this year between Heineken and Kangaro means that 75 percent of the local distribution of the beer goes to Kangaro.

Kangaro Industrial Group wanted to establish its own brewery factory long before becoming a major distribution agent of Heineken. It obtained land in Mojo Town, 73km from Addis Abeba in the Oromia Regional State for the construction of its own beer brand with an investment coast of 200 million birr.

The group planned to produce 300,000 hectoliters of beer at their brewery when they began construction in 2007, according to sources. But the group, in the mean time, was searching for a foreign partnership aiming to benefit from the advancing technology.

Heineken beer was approached by Kangaro, sources told Capital. Judging from the appearance of the high level delegation from Heineken, their deal seems to be fruitful, the source claimed.

The delegation visited the construction site of the beer factory and held discussions with Kangaro about Heineken’s share in the factory and production of their beer, according to the source.

“The business deal is at an early stage,” Efrem Yirga share holder of Kangaro Industrial Group told Capital describing the arrival of the delegation and the dealings.

However Efrem did not elaborate on the details of the negotiation. His brother and manager of Kangaro Industrial Group, Belachew Yirga was not accessible for further attempts of Capital.

Heineken, established in 1952 has a wide international presence through a global network of distributors and breweries. It is one of the world’s leading brewers in terms of sales volume. Its principal brands include Heineken and Amstel. It also brews over 200 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers.

In Ethiopia there are three state owned breweries - Meta Abo, Bedele and Harar, and two privately owned ones, Dashen, which is owned by the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Amhara (Tiret) and BGI Ethiopia brewery of the famous local beer, St. George, which is a leading brand in terms of sales and volume.

CapitalEthiopia