Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), PepsiCo’s largest bottler outside the United States and majority-owned by the Jaipuria family, is expanding its African operations with the acquisition of Twizza Proprietary Limited.

The deal will be executed through VBL’s South African subsidiary, Bevco, giving the company control of three Twizza manufacturing plants in Cape Town, Queenstown, and Middelburg.

Twizza, a producer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, operates a fully backward-integrated production system, including five preform lines and a closure line, designed to enhance operational efficiency.

In the year ending June 30, 2025, the company generated ZAR 1,689 million (about $113 million) in revenue and sold roughly 71 million 8-ounce cases.The acquisition by Varun Beverages is expected to be completed by June 30, 2026, pending regulatory approvals in South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, after which Twizza will operate as a subsidiary of the Indian bottler.

Africa has become a key growth engine for VBL. While domestic volumes in India were flat during the first nine months of 2025 due to heavy rainfall, international volumes increased 9%, largely driven by African markets.

This contributed to a 56.7% gross margin in Q3 CY2025, supported by a higher water sales mix and efficiencies from backward integration.

VBL’s African presence spans Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with distribution rights in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Madagascar.

The company is also establishing a wholly owned subsidiary in Kenya for local manufacturing and distribution.

Source: africabusinessinsider