East African Breweries

East African Breweries Limited, commonly referred to as EABL, is a Kenyan-based holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages.
The group's headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan. The group has distribution partners in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
East African Breweries Limited was founded in 1922, as Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), by two Welshmen, George and Charles Hurst. The company was owned by the Dodd family of Kenya.
KBL acquired Tanganyika-based Tanganyika Breweries in 1935 and 1936 these two companies were merged leading to the creation of the East African Breweries Limited (EABL). The group continued expanding locally through the opening of more breweries such as Mombasa brewery.
In 1954, EABL got listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. This was among the first listings in the region's oldest stock exchange. As a group, EABL expanded into Uganda through the acquisition of Uganda Breweries in 1959.
In 1964, the group's subsidiary name in present-day Tanzania was changed from Tanganyika Breweries Limited to Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) following the political unification of Tanganyika and the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba to form the United Republic of Tanzania. This led to increased market for the group through the creation of the union. However, in 1979 the Government of Tanzania nationalized TBL as part of the Arusha Declaration. The group officially opened Central Glass Industries Limited (CGI) in 1987, as a producer of glass containers and bottles, therefore leading to internal sourcing.
In 2000, Diageo acquired majority control of EABL and in the following year the group cross-listed its share on the Uganda Securities Exchange. EABL is a constituent company of the NSE 20 Share Index.
In the late 1990s to the early 2000s was a period of beer wars in East Africa involving South African Breweries International (Now SABMiller) and EABL.
These wars ended in 2002 when EABL signed license agreements with South African Breweries International and agreed to terms for share swap in their subsidiaries: Kenya Breweries Limited and Tanzania Breweries Limited (now an SABI subsidiary).
In share exchange EABL acquired a 20% equity stake in TBL and agreed to issue SABI a similar share Kenya Breweries Limited.
And SABI exited the Kenyan market while EABL exited the Tanzanian market by handing over its Kibo subsidiary to TBL. This partnership gave TBL 98% share of the Tanzanian market as of 2004.
In the same year, EABL acquired 100% of shares in International Distillers Uganda Limited and 46.32% of the issued shares of UDV Kenya Limited.
The partnership between EABL and SAB Miller in Tanzania went through turbulence in 2009, with EABL claiming breach of contract by Tanzania Breweries (TBL), a subsidiary of SAB Miller, accusing it of manufacture of low quality EABL products under a previously agreed arrangement and at the same time restricting access to the Tanzanian market of some of Diageo/EABL products.
This led to EABL's acquisition of 51% of Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) and exit from TBL's shareholder structure through a $71.5 million successful secondary offer on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange in 2011. SAB Miller sold it stake Kenya Breweries to East African Breweries.
In 2013, EABL commenced operations in South Sudan through the establishment of East African Beverages South Sudan Limited (EABSS) as a depot in Juba in order to reduce over reliance on third party distributors' logistical arrangements that led to periodic stock outs.
The subsidiaries of EABL include:
The group's largest shareholder is Diageo Plc. EABL is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, Uganda Securities Exchange and Dar es Salaam Stock Exchanges. The shareholding in the group's stock was as depicted in the table below:
Tusker is the main brand of Kenya Breweries with over 30% of the Kenyan beer market selling more than 700,000 hectolitres per year. Tusker is also the largest African beer brand in the Diageo group. It is a 4.2% ABV pale lager. The brand was first marketed in 1923, shortly after the founder of Kenya Breweries Ltd, George Hurst, was killed by an elephant during a hunting accident. His remaining founder and brother Charles decided to name the company's first lager, Tusker, since large, male elephants indigenous to East Africa, were called tuskers. It was in this year that the elephant logo, that is synonymous with Tusker Lager, was incorporated. The slogan "Bia Yangu, Nchi Yangu", means "My Beer, My Country" in Swahili.
In early 2008, the UK supermarket chain Tesco began selling Tusker, followed soon after by Sainsbury's.
Tusker Lager, Tusker Malt Lager, Pilsner and White Cap Lager have received each a Gold Quality Award at the World Quality Selections, organised yearly by Monde Selection, a highly respected International Quality Institute.
The company also makes Uganda Waragi, a 40% ABV brand of waragi, a traditional Ugandan liquor, and the leading branded distilled beverage in Uganda. It is triple distilled and made from millet. It is known in Uganda as "the Spirit of Uganda". The main markets include other African countries such as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
In 1965, "The Enguli Act" decreed that distillation would only be legal under license, and distillers should sell to the parastatal Uganda Distilleries Limited, which produced a branded bottled product, marketed under the name Uganda Waragi.
The EABL Foundation is the corporate social responsibility arm of East African Breweries, founded in 2005. It assists people in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania through five areas of activity: water supply, education and training, health, environment, and special projects. Through the skills for life program, The EABL Foundation provides scholarships for undergraduates in the three East African Countries.
Its ongoing projects include the construction of an optical center in Moshi, Tanzania, the support of the Sickle Cell Association of Uganda and the donation of an Ultra Sound Machine to Kirwara Hospital in Thika, Kenya. The foundation has supplied over KSh.70 million/= (approx. US$972,000) in university scholarships.
The EABL Foundation conducts special projects in times of disaster and when emergency relief is needed. Most recently, the foundation took part in the Save A Life Fund, in which it donated over KSh.14 million/= (approx. US$194,000) towards famine relief.
On 21 August 2012, the company signed a deal worth KSh.170 million/= (US$2.02 million; £1.28 million stg; €1.62 million) with the Kenyan Premier League for its renaming to the Tusker Premier League. This made it the most lucrative deal ever made in Kenyan football history.
Tusker FC is a football club owned by East African Breweries. It is based in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the third most successful club in Kenya with eight Kenyan league championships and three Kenyan cup wins. In addition, it has won four East African CECAFA Clubs Cup titles.
The club was known as "Kenya Breweries" until 1999, when the current name was adopted. Tusker has two home stadiums, the Moi International Sports Centre, where it mainly plays its home matches, and the Ruaraka Sports Ground.
In August 2012, East African Breweries signed a sponsorship deal worth US$450,000 with CECAFA to have the CECAFA Cup renamed to the CECAFA Tusker Challenge Cup.