Unibra sells off shares at Zebidar to Castel

Belgian brewery, Unibra Group and Castel Group, which owns BGI Ethiopia sealed a deal to transfer Unibra’s share of the recently joined brewery Zebidar, to Castel on Thursday January 18.
It has been rumored that the two bodies were negotiating to sell shares of Unibra to the leading brewery in Ethiopia.
Details have not been given but official information obtained from BGI indicated the two companies have agreed to transfer the shares of Zebidar to Castel Group.
Unibra is the major shareholder at Zebidar with an ownership of 60 percent, while the balance is managed by about 1,100 shareholders.
The brewery commenced production just a year ago with a unique pull-off cap bottle and an investment of 1.3 billion birr. The factory that has a production capacity of 350,000 hectoliters per year is located around Wolqite, Gubre zone, SNNP, 136km west of Addis Ababa.
Recently BGI agreed with shareholders of Raya Brewery to buy the balance of the factory which is the only one in Tirgay region. BGI already has a 42 percent share of Raya, while the share transfer has not yet concluded, according to sources.