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South Africa: SABMiller, Coke agree concessions with over bottling deal

By  |  May 4, 2016

SABMiller and Coca-Cola have agreed concessions with the South African government to win approval for their plan to merge African soft drink operations into what would be the continent’s biggest Coke drinks bottler.

The concessions, announced on Wednesday, agreed with the South African Ministry of Economic Development, include a three-year freeze on layoffs and the companies investing 800 million rand ($54 million) to support small South African businesses.

Brewer SABMiller, in the process of the being taken over by Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI.BR), agreed in November 2014 to team up with Coke and the South African owners of local bottler Coca-Cola Sabco to create Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, which would have annual sales of $2.9 billion and operations in 12 markets across Southern and East Africa.

Full Content: Reuters

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