Zambia: Zambia Breweries launches rights issue to increase output

Zambian Breweries Plc , majority-owned by SABMiller, said on November, 4 it plans to raise $70 million through a rights issue to help it ramp up output and meet growing demand for beer, Reuters reports.

The unit of the global brewer aims to spend a total of $90 million to triple output at its Copperbelt plant, spokesman Chibamba Kanyama said.

Of that, $70 million would be raised through a rights issue on the Lusaka exchange, with the remainder to be funded internally, he said.

"We are raising the capital for refurbishing the Ndola Brewery so as to increase capacity because of unprecedented growth in 2011. Production capacity has been reached," he said.

Beer consumption in the poor but fast-growing country increased 15 percent in 2010 and is up 31 percent this year. Zambian Breweries accounts for about 90 percent of beer output in the southern African country.

04 November, 2011