Type | Public limited company |
---|---|
JSE: DGH | |
Industry | Brewing, Beverage |
Predecessor | Stellenbosch Farmers' Winery Distillers Corporation |
Founded | 4 December 2000 through Merger |
Founder | William Charles Winshaw SFW's Founder Anton Rupert Distillers Corp's Founder |
Defunct | April 26, 2023 |
Fate | Carved-out |
Successor | |
Headquarters | Stellenbosch, South Africa |
Key people | Richard Rushton - CEO |
Revenue | ZAR 17.7 Billion (2014) [1] The shareholding as at 31 March 2014 is shown below: [2] |
ZAR 1.5 Billion | |
Total assets | ZAR 15.9 Billion (2014) |
Number of employees | 5,300 (2014) |
Website | www.distell.co.za |
Distell Group Limited, commonly referred to as Distell, was a multinational brewing and beverage company, based in South Africa. On April 26, 2023, Distell was acquired by Heineken. [3]
After that, its operations were integrated into Heineken Beverages, a company created by the merger of its South African unit, Distell, and another African brewery acquired by the Dutch multinational Namibia Breweries. [4]
Distell Group Limited is a producer and marketer of spirits, fine wines, ciders and ready-to-drinks. The group's headquarters are in Stellenbosch, South Africa. [5]
As at February 2014, Distell had 5,300 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of ZAR 17.7 Billion.
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. [6]
Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Group (SFW) the founder member of Distell Group was formed in 1925 by William Charles Winshaw, an American medical doctor. [7] 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. [8]
In 1956 Stellenbosch Farmers Winery Ltd was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. [9]
Distillers Corporation was formed in 1945 by Anton Rupert. 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 expertise. In addition, it created a new African icon, Amarula Cream, which is one of the top-selling cream liqueurs in the world. [7]
Distillers Corporation was also listed on the JSE.
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. [10]
This structure allowed the merger not to have any diluting effect on the lead shareholders' effective interest in the merged entity. [11]
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. [6] [12]
Distell Group's shares began trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 19 March 2001 under the symbol DST. [6]
In April 2013 Distell bought Scotch whisky company Burn Stewart Distillers from CL Financial for £160m. [13]
Following its acquisition of SABMiller, [14] Anheuser-Busch InBev announced that it would sell its 26.4% acquired state in Distell Group to Public Investment Corporation. [15]
On 15 November 2021, Heineken 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. [16] The acquisition was completed in 2023 [17]
The stock of Distell Group Limited is listed on the JSE, where it trades under the symbol: DST. As of June 2015 [update] shareholding in the group's stock is as depicted in the table below: [18]
Rank | Name of Owner | Percentage Ownership |
---|---|---|
1 | Remgro-Capevin Investments Proprietary Limited | 53.00 |
2 | Other Beverage Interests Proprietary Limited | 26.50 |
3 | Others via the JSE | 20.50 |
Total | 100.00 |
Distell's major brands include: [20]
Diageo plc is a British multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It is a major distributor of Scotch whisky and other spirits. Distilleries owned by Diageo produce 40% of all Scotch whisky with over 24 brands, such as Johnnie Walker, J&B and Old Parr.
South African Breweries 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.
SABMiller plc was a 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. Prior to that date, it was the world's second-largest brewer measured by revenues and was also a major bottler of Coca-Cola. Its brands included Foster's, Miller, and Pilsner Urquell. It operated in 80 countries worldwide and in 2009 sold around 21 billion litres of beverages. Since 10 October 2016, SABMiller is a business division of AB InBev, a Belgian multinational corporation with headquarters in Leuven.
Glenmorangie distillery is a distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland, that produces single malt Scotch whisky.
Anthony Edward Rupert OMSG was a South African businessman, philanthropist, and conservationist.
Beer in Africa, especially lager, is produced commercially in most African countries, and indigenous people also make varieties of beer. Beer is served in various locales, from neighbourhood shebeens to upscale bars. Many countries have standardized beer bottle sizes, which are cleaned and re-used, so when buying beer at a store, people often must pay a deposit on the bottle and the price of the beer. An alternative to glass-bottle beers is local beer sold in tetra-pak style paper cartons.
Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) is a brewery founded in 1920 and based in Windhoek, Namibia. On April 26, 2023, Heineken announced that it had completed the purchase of NBL.
East African Breweries Limited, commonly referred to as EABL, is a Kenyan-based holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages.
William Charles Winshaw (1871-1968), was an American physician who created Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery (SFW) in South Africa in 1935. He was born in Kentucky, USA on 21 November 1871 and died in South Africa on 11 March 1968. He also co-owned the Oude Libertas vineyard there and produced Lieberstein, a dry white wine. He was married to Ada Charlotte (Day) and Susan Valerie
African Distillers is a company in Zimbabwe. It is one of the largest producers of alcoholic beverages, primarily distilled spirits and wines, in Zimbabwe.
As of 2006 most distilled spirits labelled as "whisky" in India were a form of Indian-made foreign liquor, commonly blends based on neutral spirits that are distilled from fermented molasses with only a small portion consisting of traditional malt whisky, usually about 10 to 12 percent. Outside India, such a drink would more likely be labelled a rum. According to the Scotch Whisky Association's 2013 annual report, unlike in the European Union (EU), "there is no compulsory definition of whisky in India, and the Indian voluntary standard does not require whisky to be distilled from cereals or to be matured. Very little Indian 'whisky' qualifies as whisky in the EU owing to the use of molasses or neutral alcohol, limited maturation and the use of flavourings. Such spirits are, of course, considerably cheaper to produce than genuine whisky." Such molasses-based blends made up 90 percent of the spirits consumed as "whisky" in India in 2004, although whisky wholly distilled from malt and other grains, was also manufactured and sold. By 2004 shortages of wheat had been overcome and India was one of the largest producers. Amrut, the first single malt whisky produced in India, was launched in Glasgow, Scotland in 2004. After expanding in Europe it was launched in India in 2010.
Three Ships is a brand of whisky distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa. The distillery produces both malt and grain whiskies on the same site, which is unusual for whisky distilleries. The Three Ships range includes blended and single malt whiskies. Three Ships is owned by Distell, a multinational brewing and beverage company based in South Africa.
BenRiachdistillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in the Speyside area of Scotland. It is currently owned by Brown-Forman Corporation.
Tobermory distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery situated on the Hebridean island of Mull, Scotland in the town of Tobermory.
The Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards are a set of annual awards that recognize excellence in professional theatrical productions held within the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa. These awards encompass 20 categories in total.
Tanzania Breweries Limited, also referred to as TBL, is the oldest and largest brewing company in Tanzania.
Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL), is a first line manufacturer, importer and distributor of wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages
Remgro Limited is an investment holding company based in Stellenbosch, South Africa. It has interests in banking, financial services, packaging, glass products, medical services, mining, petroleum, beverage, food and personal care products. In 2015, Forbes listed Remgro as the 9th biggest publicly traded company in South Africa and 1436th in the world.
Bain's Cape Mountain is a South African brand of whisky distilled at the James Sedgwick distillery in Wellington, Western Cape. Launched in 2009, Bain's is South Africa's first whisky produced from a single grain, being made from 100% South African-grown yellow maize (corn). Bain's is owned by Distell, a multinational brewing and beverage company based in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Bain's is named after Andrew Geddes Bain, who built the Bainskloof Pass that connects the town of Wellington, where the distillery is located, to the interior of the country in 1853.
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