* SABMiller keen on Castel’s African beer and soft drinks
* Clarifies mutual pre-emptive rights between the two groups
* Agrees to closer links in Nigeria and Angola
* SABMiller shares up 0.3 pct at 2,339 pence
By David Jones
LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Global brewer SABMiller
said it would be interested in acquiring the African
brewing operations of French group Castel as the two announced
on Monday they were strengthening their links in Africa.
SABMiller and privately owned Castel reached a strategic
alliance in 2001 whereby SABMiller took a 20 percent stake in
the Paris-based group’s beer and soft drinks operations in
Africa, and Castel acquired a 38 percent stake in SABMiller’s
Africa subsidiary.
The two agreed mutual pre-emptive rights over each others’
beverage operations in Africa, whereby each has first rights to
buy each others’ operations if put up for sale, and SABMiller
said these rights had now been “clarified and amplified”.
Continued…
