Dashen Brewery, Ethiopia has finalized a deal transferring an estimated 41% of its shares to the British asset manager, Duet group for 90 million US dollars.

Berket Simon, Board Chairman of Tiret Endowment (parent body of Dashen Brewery) signed the deal with Duet officials in London last week.

The first payment for the shares estimated at 60 million US dollars was made at the time the agreement was signed according to sources at the brewery.
Duet will deliver the agreed upon sum in the form of equity from the newly established Duet Beverages Africa Ltd to be managed by the Duet Africa Private Equity team alongside Vasari, an industrial partner sharing the risk of investment according to the statement released by Duet following the agreement.

The investment being injected by Duet will be utilized to enhance the brewery’s capacity and develop distribution channels according to sources.

Dashen expects to build a second factory in a bid to increase its potential production capacity to 1 million hectoliters every year from the 750,000 hectolitre annual output at the present as detailed in the brewery proposal.

Duet has been impressed by the growth of consumer driven business in Ethiopia and by what has been achieved by Dashen said Henry Gabay, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman Duet group.

Duet and Vasari expect to add value to the next phase of growth of Dashen and are proud to partner with the Tiret Group said Gabay in the statement released by the group.

Tiret expects the partnership with Duet to enhance its capacity and offer experience in the international sector as well as management and business skills as Dashen concentrates on enhancing its technical expertise said Tadesse Kassa, CEO of Tiret.


Source: Capital