The Castel Group will purchase Diageo’s majority stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries for $81 million.
The UK-based beverage behemoth will give up its 80.4% stake in the Ghanaian company as part of the deal, but it will still own the Guinness name and other important brands made by Guinness Ghana. Under the new ownership, the brewery will still be licensed to use these. This action is in line with Diageo’s continuous plan to implement a “flexible and asset-light” beer operating model, which is intended to improve operational effectiveness and profitability while accommodating local market conditions.
According to Diageo Africa’s president and chief commercial officer, Dayalan Nayager: “Guinness Ghana has consistently delivered strong performance, driven by an exceptional team. Through this transaction, we anticipate the Guinness brand continuing to flourish and achieving sustained growth under Castel’s leadership.”
The deal comes after Diageo sold off a number of its holdings in its African beer business, including its 2024 and 2022 stakes in Guinness Nigeria and Guinness Cameroon, both of which Castel also purchased. As part of their larger portfolio repositioning in Africa, Diageo sold the Meta Abo Brewery in Ethiopia to the Castel Group in January 2022.
Gregory Clerc, CEO of Castel Group, said he was excited about the transaction, saying: “This purchase underscores Castel’s entrepreneurial spirit and represents a significant step forward in our growth ambitions across the African continent.”
Diageo’s possible divestiture of its Guinness business and its 34% interest in LVMH’s beverage alcohol company, Moët Hennessy, has been the subject of recent media speculation. The company has vehemently refuted these rumours, though.
According to Diageo in a January 26 statement.: “We want to address the recent speculation regarding the Guinness brand and our stake in Moët Hennessy.
“We can confirm that we have no intention of selling either. We look forward to providing further updates during our interim results announcement on February 4 and at our Guinness investor and analyst day on May 19-20,” the statement added.
BrandSpur news brand reports that Diageo’s strategic goal of optimising its operations while maintaining the Guinness brand as a pillar of its African business portfolio is being carried out with this most recent sale.
