Habesha Brewery SC has attracted 14 European and Asian companies for the bid it floated on July 7, 2010, for the supply of a complete turnkey brewery plant it plans to build in Debre Brehan, 130km north of Addis Abeba.

The international bid, which will close on August 17, calls for the design, procurement, supply, and construction of Habesha Brewery’s plant on 300,000ht of land. The number of companies who have shown an interest in the bid surprised the company’s management.

“We were expecting a maximum of seven companies to respond to our bid,” said Eskinder Desta, vice chairman of Habesha. “So far, 14 have shown interest, with two weeks left on the bid.”


The 14 companies are from eight countries: three from Germany; two each from Belgium, the Czech Republic, China, and India; and one from Italy, Turkey, and France.

Although Habesha is looking for one company to do all the work, from design to implementation and delivery of the plant, they might put out a separate bid for construction companies, if the prices quoted are too high, according to Eskinder.

During the company’s first regular meeting on Tuesday, July 27, 2010, the new board of directors asked Mesfin Abi and Eskinder Desta, who served as chairman and vice chairman of the board of directors during Habesha’s formative stages, to continue in the same capacity on the new board.

Eskinder had asked to step down from his post and nominated Mebratu Lema to take his place, saying that he wanted to concentrate on the sale of the rest of the company’s shares.

“I thought Mebratu would be the perfect man for the job since he has worked as the general manager of Meta and St. George beer companies,” Eskinder told Fortune.

However, the board insisted that he stay on as the vice chairman, at least for the next three months. The board also elected as secretary, Mekonnen Demise, who has an LLB and has worked for Ethiopian Airlines, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and the United Nations (UN) in different capacities.

Since October 19, 2009, Habesha has floated 250,000 shares, of which around 118,000 are left, to be sold by the August 6, 2010, deadline.

The shares which were sold are enough to cover 30pc of the total cost of the project for the establishment of the brewery and the sale of the remaining 118,800 shares will be used to buy another beer company or to establish one, Eskinder said.

Habesha Brewery, which revealed its interest in buying one of the three state owned breweries being privatised later this year, also floated an international bid on Saturday, July 31, 2010, for the hiring of a consultant firm.

By ZEKARIAS HADDUSH
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER