Soft drinks giant The Coca-Cola Co. has revealed plans to boost investment into production in Kenya over the next five years.
Working together with local bottler Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), the Dr Pepper owner said it plans to “grow its investment” in the country by “up to $175m”.
The cash injection in this period will be contingent on the business hitting “its anticipated growth targets in the country”, the company said in a statement.
Sunil Gupta, chief executive of CCBA said the investment looked to “[accelerate] Coca-Cola system’s capacity and capability expansion over the next five years. Our decision to invest underscores our belief in the long-term potential of Kenya’s economy”.
Coca-Cola declined to disclose what specific areas of production the money will support. Just Drinks has also asked CBBA for comment.
The Coca-Cola Co. and CCBA collectively have 10,000 employees in East Africa alone. They also work with more than 500,000 SMEs in the region.
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By GlobalData“Our value chain supports livelihoods for over a million people in distribution, sales and other roles,” Gupta added.
“We source close to 8,000 metric tonnes of mango puree from East African farmers. We believe in the region’s potential and its ability to achieve significant growth through collaboration between public and private sectors. Our business in Kenya is centered on a local approach – we hire locally, produce locally, distribute locally and source locally.”
Luisa Ortega, president of Coca-Cola’s Africa branch, said: “We are optimistic and fully committed to Kenya’s future. We foresee great social and economic advancement, and this is why we continue to invest in our Kenyan business as well as community programs that help strengthen Kenya’s prosperity.”
Some 18,000 people are employed by the bottler across its 40 bottling plants on the continent. It manufactures around 40% of Coca-Cola’s volumes in Africa.
The investment announcement comes as the Fanta owner allegedly prepares to launch an $8bn IPO for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa as of next year.
Citing sources close to the matter, Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Coca-Cola Co. was contemplating a dual listing of the bottler in Amsterdam and Johannesburg.
An IPO had originally been planned for 2022, but was delayed as a result of market volatility, arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, high raw material prices and disruption to the supply chain.
