Coca Cola Sabco East Africa, South Africa’s subsidiary of Coca Cola Beverages Africa recently concluded its acquisition of Almasi Beverages from Centum Investments. The acquisition will result in Coca Cola Sabco East Africa having control of three bottling companies that Almasi owned; Kisii Bottlers, Mt Kenya Bottlers, and Rift Valley Bottlers.
Therefore, the company will have to open up its distribution channels to its competitors as it is among the conditions given by the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) for the approval of its acquisition of Almasi Beverages.
According to the Competition Authority of Kenya, Coca Cola Sabco East Africa’s distributors will be allowed to stock competitors’ products and reserve space for other soft drinks in the Coca Cola branded fridges. The lower deck of the fridges or not less than 20% of the total storage space will be reserved for its competitors’ products.
The company will also be expected to review contracts with its distributors to stock competitors products and revise the prices and the profit margins for the distributors. Coca Cola will only have the authority to stipulate the maximum prices that distributors could sell its products.
Competition Authority of Kenya will also expect Coca Cola to retain most of Almasi Beverages employees.
Coca Cola is the largest beverage company in the country, with its products holding about 70% of the market share. Its competitors include Kevian Kenya, Pick N Peel, Excel Chemicals, Del Monte and Highlands.
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