South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev on 10 October 2016. South African Breweries is now a direct subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.
The company that is now South African Breweries was founded in 1895 as Castle Brewery to serve a growing market of miners and prospectors in and around Johannesburg. Two years later, it became the first industrial company to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the year after (1898) it listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1950, SAB relocated its headquarters and control from London to South Africa. In 1955, Castle Brewing purchased the Ohlsson's and Chandlers Union breweries, and the group was renamed South African Breweries.
In the 1960s, through its Cold Castle National Jazz Festival, named for one of its key brands, the company was a major sponsor and patron of the South African jazz movement and underwrote the production of the LP Jazz: The African Sound.
From the early 1990s onward, the company increasingly expanded internationally, making several acquisitions in both emerging and developed markets. In 1999, it formed a new UK-based holding company, SAB plc, and moved its primary listing to London. In May 2002, SAB plc acquired Miller Brewing, forming SABMiller plc.
On 10 October 2016, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired SABMiller for £69 billion (US$107 billion at the time the deal closed). The arrangement had been approved by shareholders of both companies on 28 September 2016, and the deal closed on 10 October 2016. The acquisition ended the corporate use of the name SABMiller. After the deal closed, the new company's name changed slightly, to Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (abbreviated as AB InBev); it is trading as ABI on the Brussels Stock Exchange, as BUD on the New York stock exchange and as ANH on the Johannesburg market. SABMiller ceased trading on global stock markets.
Acquisition of SABMiller by ABinBev The acquisition of SABMiller by Anheuser-Busch InBev on 10 October 2016 ended the corporate use of the name SABMiller except as a business division of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev). The new entity began trading on the Brussels Stock Exchange as ABI.BR and as BUD on the New York stock exchange. SABMiller ceased trading on global stock markets and divested itself of its interests in the MillerCoors beer company to Molson Coors.
On 21 December 2016, the company agreed to sell the former SABMiller Ltd. business in Eastern Europe to Asahi Breweries Group Holdings, Ltd. Anheuser-Busch InBev had previously agreed to sell Grolsch Brewery, Peroni Brewery and Meantime Brewery to Asahi; that deal closed on 12 October 2016. On the same day, the sale of SABMiller's 49 percent share in Snow beer to China Resources Enterprise also closed.
In December 2016, the Coca-Cola Company bought the Coca-Cola operations in Africa and in two Central American countries. The deal requires regulatory approval and should close by the end of 2017.
In August 2016, after the plans for acquiring SABMiller had been established by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the company said it would close SABMiller's regional offices in Miami, Hong Kong and Beijing after the acquisition deal closed in October 2016. Plans had not yet been revealed for the operation in Zug, Switzerland which controlled SABMiller's central & eastern European beer brands. However, the subsequent sale of much of the business in such countries to Asahi Breweries may affect the Zug operation. The office in Woking (United Kingdom) was expected to remain open for a transitional period but the HQ in London's Stanhope Gate would close. The South African Breweries office in Johannesburg will remain open and will also be used by Anheuser Busch InBev SA/NV (whose corporate HQ is in Leuven, Belgium) as its Africa hub.
Board of directors, management and staffing Since SABMiller had been acquired on 10 October 2016, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, there was no longer a need for a board of directors for the former SABMiller. In August 2017, Anheuser Busch InBev had announced that Mauricio Leyva, then the CEO of SAB South Africa, would be the only executive to remain with Anheuser Busch Inbev SA/NV on the new entity's 18 member permanent board. Leyva would become zone president for Middle Americas at Anheuser Busch Inbev SA/NV. News reports indicated that "three ... SABMiller executive committee members - general counsel John Davidson, human resources head Johann Nel and Africa MD Mark Bowman - [would] stay on for a six-month transitional period only".
South African Breweries (SAB) remains an entity, as a subsidiary of SAB InBev. According to Bloomberg, Grant Murray Liversage was the Finance Director of South African Breweries Limited after the takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. Mauricio Leyva Arboleda, currently employed by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV and Dinyar S. DeVitre were board members of SAB.
Before the 10 October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller, in April 2016, Anheuser-Busch InBev had agreed to protect South African jobs and create a 1 billion rand (US$69 million) fund that would "support farmers, local manufacturing, jobs, and the reduction of harmful alcohol use," including funding new barley and hops farms. This offer was made to convince the regulators to approve the sale of SABMiller.
The company is bound by an agreement with the South African Competition Tribunal that employment numbers at South African Brewery will be stable for five years and that there will be no forced reductions of staff and that unionized employees will not be offered voluntary separation for five years.
However, AB InBev decided to attempt some cost savings by offering voluntary severance offers to some management level staff at SAB. On 23 January 2017, Robyn Chalmers, Director of Communications, AB InBev Africa and SAB, said that "... no employee will be forcibly retrenched as a result of the merger. It is too early in the process to say how many people may opt for the voluntary offer." She added that the offer "has been made available only to mid-level employees and above". Since the company must maintain the staffing level, highly paid managers will probably be replaced by staff at lower levels.
History Brewing in South Africa
Prior to incorporation in the year 1895, Castle Brewery had operations in Cape Town to serve the steady expansion of a settler community from the mid-17th century. The demand for beer prompted the first Dutch governor, Jan van Riebeeck, to establish a brewery at the Fort (later replaced by the Castle in central Cape Town) as early as 1658 - beating the first wine production by six months. In the same year, Pieter Visagie brewed the first beer from the waters of the Liesbeeck River. Over the next 200 years, brewing made its mark in the Cape and beyond. Noted brewers of the time included Cloete at the Newlands Brewery; Ohlsson at the Anneberg Brewery; Jacob Letterstedt at Mariendahl Brewery - also in Newlands: Hiddingh at Cannon Brewery; Martienssen at the Salt River Brewery, and a second Cloete in Kloof Street.
One of the key figures in the story of Newlands, and in the annals of South African beer manufacturing history, was Swede Anders Ohlsson, who sailed for Africa, aged 23, in 1864. Initially, he imported Swedish goods and timbers, and developed an extensive trade network and a solid business empire. Then he turned to brewing, basing himself at Newlands, where he produced Lion Lager.
In 1955, the South African government introduced a heavy tax on beer products causing many consumers to switch to spirits. However, the subsequent shock to the South African beer industry proved to be a blessing in disguise for SAB. A year later, the company purchased its two main competitors, Ohlsson's and Chandlers Union Breweries, both of whom were struggling under the depressed demand for beer, and the group was renamed South African Breweries.
After the acquisitions the new and larger SAB was able to rationalize operations, thereby reducing costs and increasing profitability. Donald Gordon's Liberty Life Strategic Investments (LIBSIL), which was associated with JSE-listed financial services and property holding company Liberty Holdings, maintained a large stake in the company for most of the 1990s. By 1998, SAB commanded approximately 98 per cent share of the South African beer market and was considered one of the lowest cost producers of beer in the world.
In 1999, after listing on the London Stock Exchange to raise capital for acquisitions, the group purchased the Miller Brewing Company in North America from the Altria Group in 2002, and changed its name to SABMiller.
Within South Africa, SAB distributes beer through its extensive network, augmented by a fleet of independent truck drivers (called owner-drivers) comprising mainly former employees, many of whom had received help from the group to start their own businesses. SAB has invested billions of rands in this owner-driver project since inception.
Although several international brewers, such as the UK's Whitbread, had tried to enter the South African market, all had thus far failed to gain significant market share. From time to time, new startups also tried to challenge SAB's monopoly, but these had either gone out of business, or been acquired by SAB. A case in point was National Sorghum Breweries (NSB), "a black business consortium" founded in 1990, and the first new player in the beer industry in more than 10 years. "SAB’s supremacy is under threat," observers said, and some thought that within a few years NSB could achieve 10 per cent market share. Instead, the company ran into financial difficulties and failed to gain any significant share of the market.
This does not mean that SAB's position could never be threatened. In 2004, a new company was established in South Africa known as Brandhouse through a joint venture of Diageo, Heineken and Namibian Breweries. Brandhouse started marketing, selling and distributing some of the world's top premium brands such as Heineken and Windhoek and in March 2007, the 40-year agreement between SABMiller plc and Heineken N.V. which allowed SAB Ltd to brew and distribute Amstel Lager in South Africa, was terminated, sparking a new era of competition for the industry. At the same time, Heineken announced its intention to build its own brewery in South Africa. SAB Ltd launched a new premium brand, Hansa Marzen Gold shortly thereafter and continued its expansion into premium brands with the launch of Dutch heritage beer, Grolsch, following SABMiller's acquisition of Koninklijke Grolsch N.V. in early 2008. Dreher Premium Lager was launched in South Africa the same year, and the company has made a number of innovations in the spirit cooler and apple-ale categories in recent years.
In October 2016, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired the entire SABMiller company which then became a business division of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV and ceased trading on the worldwide stock markets. As a result, South African Breweries and Carlton & United are now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.
List of breweries Alrode Brewery, Gauteng, Chamdor Brewery, Gauteng, Ibhayi Brewery, Eastern Cape, Newlands Brewery, Western Cape, Polokwane Brewery, Limpopo, Prospecton Brewery, KwaZulu-Natal, Rosslyn Brewery, North West,
Soft drinks In 1925, SAB expanded into other beverages after purchasing a large share in Schweppes (soft drinks). In 1960, the group purchased a controlling interest in Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery, which, along with Distillers Corporation, contributed R98 million to group earnings in 1997.