Distell Group Limited, commonly referred to as Distell, was a multinational

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

and

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

company, based in South Africa. On April 26, 2023, Distell was acquired by

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

. After that, its operations were integrated into Heineken Beverages, a company created by the merger of its South African unit, Distell, and the African brewery acquired by the Dutch multinational Namibia Breweries.

Overview

Distell Group Limited is a producer and marketer of spirits, fine wines, ciders and ready-to-drinks. The group's headquarters are in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. As at February 2014, Distell had 5,300 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of ZAR 17.7 Billion.

History

Distell Group Limited traces its roots to two major alcoholic beverage companies in South Africa, Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery (SFW) and Distillers Corporation, that merged on 4 December 2000.

Merger

Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery

Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Group (SFW) the founder member of Distell Group was formed in 1925 by William Charles Winshaw, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

medical doctor. As at the year 2000, SFW produced and distributed wine and spirits as well as non-alcoholic beverages through retail outlets South Africa and across the world. In 1956 Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Ltd was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Distillers Corporation

Distillers Corporation was formed in 1945 by

Anton Rupert Anthony Edward Rupert OMSG (4 October 1916 – 18 January 2006) was a South African businessman and conservationist. He was born on 4 October, 1916 and raised in the small town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape Province of the Union of Sou ...

. Distillers expanded energetically and very quickly set up marketing relationships and partnerships in the wine and spirits industry. The company became a major producer, focusing on distillates and in particular on the brandy market that it developed from relative obscurity to its current level of prominence. It is renowned for its Bergkelder concept, a marketing innovation that invited wine estates to make use of Distillers' bottling, sales and marketing. In addition, it created Amarula Cream, which is one of the top-selling cream liqueurs in the world. Distillers Corporation was also listed on the JSE.

Merger transaction

On 20 September 2000, Distillers' Corporation and Stellenbosch Farmers Winery directors announced the merger of the two firms. The merger was made possible because both firms had a similar shareholding structure i.e. * Remgro-KWV Investments – 60% of Distillers' Corporation and a similar stake in SFW. * Other Beverages Industries (Pty) Ltd – 30% of Distillers' Corporation and a similar stake in SFW. Other Beverage Interests Proprietary Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of

SABMiller SABMiller plc was an Anglo–South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by AB InBev for US$107-billion. It was the world's sec ...

. * Public via The JSE – 10% This structure allowed the merger not to have any diluting effect on the lead shareholders' effective interest in the merged entity. On 4 December 2000, the management announced the conclusion of the merger. The newly formed entity was known as Distell from the names of the two constituent companies. Distell Group's shares began trading on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

on 19 March 2001 under the symbol DST.

Post merger

In April 2013 Distell bought Scotch whisky company Burn Stewart Distillers from

CL Financial CL Financial was the largest privately held conglomerate in Trinidad and Tobago and one of the largest privately held corporations in the entire Caribbean, before the company encountered a major liquidity crisis and subsequent bailout in 2009. ...

for £160m. Following its acquisition of SABMiller,

Anheuser-Busch InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

announced that it would sell its 26.4% acquired state in Distell Group to

Public Investment Corporation The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is a South African state-owned entity (SOC) with R2.693 trillion (USD 142 Billion) of assets under management as of 31 March 2024. It is Africa's largest asset manager. Established in 1911, it hold ...

Announced acquisition

On 15 November 2021,

announced a plan to buy Distell Group, in order to become the market-leading alcoholic beverage supplier in South Africa. The takeovers would be the first major deal for Heineken’s CEO and chairman of the executive board Dolf van den Brink, who took charge at Heineken in June 2020. The acquisition was completed in 2023

Ownership

The

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

of Distell Group Limited is listed on the JSE, where it trades under the symbol: DST. shareholding in the group's stock is as depicted in the table below: * Remgro-Capevin Investments Proprietary Limited is a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between Remgro Limited and Capevin Holdings. Each company has a 50% stake in the joint venture. * Capevin Holdings is a JSE listed firm whose sole investment as at 30 June 2014 was an effective interest of 26.5% in the issued share capital of Distell Group Limited, held via its 50% interest in Remgro-Capevin Investments Proprietary Limited. * Remgro Limited holds 15.6% shareholding in Capevin Holdings. That gives Remgro Limited 30.65% indirect control in Distell Group Limited.

Brands

Distell's major brands include:

Spirit portfolio

Wine portfolio

Cider and ready to drink

References

External links

Distell Group Limited
{{Heineken International Heineken subsidiaries Multinational breweries South African brands Drink companies of South Africa South African winemakers Food and drink companies established in 2000 Companies based in Stellenbosch Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange South African companies established in 2000 2023 mergers and acquisitions