EABL to convert Tanzania unit loan into equity

photo:courtesy

East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) said on Friday it would convert a loan to its Tanzanian business into equity, after reaching a settlement with the competition authority that had been investigating the transaction.

Tanzania’s Fair Competition Commission (FCC) threatened to revoke EABL’s 51 percent stake in Serengeti Breweries in 2015, accusing the Kenyan firm of not meeting several conditions.

It did not make those conditions public. “In early June, we managed to close and settle that matter,” Gyorgy Geiszl, EABL’s finance director.

 EABL, a unit of Britain’s Diageo, made a provision in its financial year ending June 2016 to settle the issue so its figures for the year to June 2017 would not be hit, he said.