Ethiopia: Heineken’s two breweries get a loan from Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

It was just few weeks ago that Raya and Habesha, two new and upcoming breweries, secured loans of more than a billion birr from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) for the construction of new factories.

Then on August 22, the CBE approved a loan to Heineken that amounts to some 850 million birr, Ethiosports reported.

The Dutch brewer owns both the Bedele and Harar brands, earning USD 163 million last year.

The total loan approved to the four breweries totaled 1.5 billion birr.

Meta Abo Brewery, owned by the London-based Diageo, has also secured a loan from the state-owned commercial bank.

Sources from the CBE confirmed that it has agreed to disburse 304 million birr for Bedele and 281 million birr for the Harar breweries, revealing that Heineken will increase the current production from 300 thousand hectolitres to 450 thousand hectolitres. However, it is to be recalled that Heineken applied for 403 million birr for Harar and 331 million birr for Bedele’s expansion. The Netherlands-based Heineken is waiting for the CBE’s response to loan requests amounting to three billion birr. According to sources from the CBE, Heineken will learn about the approval next month. Heineken launched a new greenfield brewery in March this year, which will eventually have the capacity to produce three million hectolitres.

The ever-booming brewery industry is now under greater competition following the privatizations of all the state-owned factories, with the government earning some USD 386 million from the sale of three breweries.

28 August, 2013