HEINEKEN TO BUY MAJORITY OF DISTELL

The world’s second-largest brewery has announced that it plans to buy the majority of Distell, maker of Savanna and Klipdrift is underway. The initial offer was made in May already.

On Wednesday, Distell said that there has been “satisfactory progress” regarding the negotiations over Heineken wanting to buy a massive share of its business.

“Satisfactory progress has been made with regards to the discussions with certain issues still to be agreed,” the JSE listed wine and spirits maker told News24.

Distell’s shareholders have been waiting in anticipation to find out whether they will get dividends, but CEO Richard Rushton has asked them to be patient as the deal worth more than R30 billion would have an effect on this.

News24 reports that Distell said on Wednesday if discussions are “terminated”, it intends to declare a dividend in respect of the financial year ended 30 June 2021.

Distell is South Africa’s largest wine, cider and spirits maker and the country’s second-largest brewery. Further details about the transaction have not been released yet but it seems as if the time frame has been pushed back.

Image credit: Reuters