PepsiCo’s bottler Varun Beverages has hiked stake in its Zambia subsidiary, Varun Beverages (Zambia) Ltd, to 90 percent.
Varun Beverages is one of the largest franchisee in the world of carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) and non-carbonated beverages (NCBs) sold under trademarks owned by PepsiCo.
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The company operates a franchisee for Pepsico beverages across 17 States and two Union Territories in India, and across territories of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Mozambique and Zambia.
It has 16 production facilities across India and 5 production facilities in their international licensed territories.
VBL has been successfully running the Zambia operations since its acquisition in 2016,” the company said in a statement.
It, however, did not give details on the financial transaction and valuation.
It further said: “The increase in stake reflects the company’s confidence in the future growth prospects of the subsidiary and will be an effective catalyst to drive further business growth in a fast-growing emerging market.”
Commenting on the development, Varun Beverages Chairman Ravi Jaipuria said: “…the stake increase in our Zambia subsidiary is in line with our philosophy of consolidating our presence in fast growing emerging markets beyond India. We have recorded healthy volumes in our first year of operations and are highly profitable already with strong free cash flow generation.”
Jaipuria said Zambia continues to be an under-penetrated market and offers significant upside potential.
The company had recorded sales volumes of 10.7 million cases in 2016 in Zambia.
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As always the so called Zambian millionaires are sleeping whilst the continue making money of you and poisoning your children with these toxic drinks!!
Thank God I stopped drinking sugery rubbish drinks like Coca-cola, Pepsi etc. I must advise my fellow citizens to also avoid these energy drinks which have proliferated into our country. They are dangerous and are due to have a serious impact on the health of most drinkers of these slow heart killers!