Almost two years ago, the brand owner divested its Guinness Cameroon unit to Castel Group while securing a license and royalty arrangement with the new owner. The move, which brought in GBP389m (then-US$462.8m), was framed as being art of a new business model for Diageo’s brewing operations in Africa that “enables it to select the most appropriate structure and route to market, based on local conditions”.
Seven months earlier, in January 2022, Meta Abo Brewery in Ethiopia was also sold to Castel.
Earlier today, the group outlined plans to sell its near-60% holding in Guinness Nigeria to Singapore-headquartered conglomerate Tolaram. Once again, the arrangement, valued at around US$69m, includes a “long-term license and royalty agreement”.
Tolaram will retain Guinness Nigeria’s production of Guinness for the domestic market, along with Diageo’s RTDs and “mainstream spirits” portfolios. Diageo, meanwhile, is in the process of setting up a wholly-owned company in Nigeria for its international spirits brands.
“Our flexible, asset-light, beer operating model is working well in other markets, and we will unlock the full potential of Guinness in Nigeria with our new, long-term partner Tolaram,” said Diageo Africa’s president & chief commercial officer, Dayalan Nayager. “We’re also very excited about the future of our international premium spirits business in Nigeria, a vibrant country to which we remain deeply committed.”
Nigeria is “one of the main operational hubs” for Diageo in the west Africa region.
Latest last year, media speculation linked the brand owner – once again – to a large-scale withdrawal from the beer category. Citing unnamed sources, online news provider Axios claimed Diageo was looking to “divest the rest of its beer portfolio aside from its flagship brand Guinness”. No transaction has yet emerged since the reports broke.
