Ethiopia: Vasari Beverages completes $100 mln capital raise to expand Ethiopia brewery among other projects

Vasari Beverages has completed a US$100 mln capital raise to fund a set of growth opportunities including the expansion of its Ethiopia brewery and the pursuit of new acquisitions and greenfield developments across Africa and Asia, the Drinks International reported on June 26.

Vasari is a leading frontier and emerging markets alcoholic beverage investor and RMB, a leading pan-African investment bank, acted as sole mandated lead arranger and funder for the latest deal.

Led by Vivian Imerman, Vasari has more than 40 years’ experience operating market-leading consumer goods companies across emerging and developed markets including Scottish distiller Whyte & Mackay.

“Over the past six years we have been involved in the deployment of more than US$250 mln in capital investment to develop our frontier and emerging markets beverage strategy,” said Imerman.

“Vasari Beverages has a highly activist investment approach and seeks to build long term sustainable value. This capital injection is a step forward in pursuing our investment strategy across compelling opportunities in our target regions."

Vasari owns 98% of the controlling offshore company of Dashen Brewery, one of Ethiopia’s largest breweries, which will use some of the capital raised by Vasari to double total production capacity to 5 mln hectolitres.