Diageo has agreed to sell its majority stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries to Castel Group in Africa for a fee of US$81m.
The UK-headquartered group, which will part with its 80.4% shareholding, intends to retain ownership of the Guinness and other owned brands produced by Guinness Ghana. This includes some spirits labels, which will be licensed to Guinness Ghana.
Diageo has been pursuing what it describes as a “flexible and asset-light” beer operating model that could adapt to local conditions, “supporting greater efficiency and profitability”.
“Guinness Ghana is performing strongly powered by a fantastic team of people,” said Diageo Africa’s president & CCO, Dayalan Nayager. Through this transaction, I look forward to the Guinness brand continuing to thrive and delivering further growth.”
The offload follows Diageo’s divestments of its stakes in Guinness Nigeria and Guinness Cameroon in 2024 and 2022 respectively, with the Guinness Cameroon holding also having been acquired by Castel.
Seven months earlier, in January 2022, Meta Abo Brewery in Ethiopia was also sold to Castel.
Castel CEO Gregory Clerc said today (28 January): “This acquisition exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit that drives Castel and marks a new milestone in our growth ambition.”
The news follows Diageo’s recent calming of press speculation claiming a divestment of its Guinness business and/or Moët Hennessy stake was in the offing. A report by Bloomberg on Friday (24 January), which cited “people familiar with the matter” as its source, linked the group to a “reviewing its portfolio” position, specifically around Guinness and the 34% holding in LVMH’s beverage alcohol division.
However, on Sunday, (26 January), a statement was issued by the company, noting “the recent media speculation around the Guinness brand and our stake in Moët Hennessy”.
“We can confirm that we have no intention to sell either,” the statement read. “We will next update the market with interim (six months to the end of December) results on 4 February and we look forward to hosting our Guinness investor and analyst day on 19-20 May.”
