The board of Champion Breweries Plc, on Tuesday, told investors through the Nigerian Exchange Limited of a mandatory takeover bid for 1,196,799,164 ordinary shares from other shareholders by Raysun Nigeria Limited, its largest single shareholder.
Raysun, a wholly-owned subsidiary Dutch brewer of alcoholic beverages- Heineken BV had in January this year acquired 1,903,609,538 units or 24.3% of brewer raising its stake in the Uyo, Akwa Ibom State based local brewer to 84.7% at the time.
The statement by Dr Elijah Akpan, chairman of Champion Breweries, on behalf of the board, reports say the previous 24.3% stake was at a purchase price of N2.60 per share, which translated to a total consideration of N4,949,384,799 (USD13m).
Prior to the January share purchase, Asset Management Nominee and Akwa Ibom State Government were the other substantial shareholders in Champion Breweries with 12.3% and 10% holdings respectively in the company.
Dr. Akpan said the mandatory take-over is “in accordance with the directives of the regulator subject to the provisions of Section 131, Part XII of the Investment and Securities Act, No. 29, 2007 (as amended) and Rule 445 of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Rules and Regulations, 2013 (as amended).”
Raysun, he stressed, has received the approval of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to proceed with the Offer, as a result of which the offer document will filed with the SEC for registration.
Afterward, Raysun will make a tender for the Offer Shares, which the shareholders may accept at their discretion.
He recalled that on May 10, 2021, the board of Raysun granted approval for a take-over offer to be made to all the other shareholders of Champion Breweries, other than Raysun, for the acquisition of the Offer Shares representing 15.3% of the total issued and fully paid-up share capital of the Company.
Champion Breweries was established in 1974 as a publicly funded commercial enterprise under the name of South East Breweries Limited and began production two years later. The name was changed to Cross River Breweries Limited and thereafter to Champion Breweries. In 2011, Montgomery Ventures Inc (Panama) sold a 57% equity stake in Champion Breweries to Consolidated Breweries which in turn was bought in 2013 by Raysun Nigeria Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heineken. Since then Heineken had held indirectly a majority equity stake in Champion Breweries Plc.
