An offer of USD 48.8 million has been accepted for the sale of Asella Malt Factory after it was put up for sale by the Ministry of Public Enterprises (MoPE). This was part of the current privatization bid in Ethiopia. The Asella Malt Factory, now joins the list of highest offer earner companies, only next to the USD 944 million bid made to acquire the National Tobacco Enterprise (NTE) by Japan Tobacco International and the USD 225 million bid made by Diageo Plc for Meta Abo Breweries S.C.
The factory was established back in 1984 and has been a strategic enterprise in Ethiopia for many decades. It has been one of the biggest major malt suppliers in the nation alongside Gonder Malt, which is owned by Dashen Breweries.
Asella Malt is directly responsible for the production of 40 percent of the local malt demand in Ethiopia.
The factory is also a direct supplier to seven other breweries in the nation with a production capacity of an impressive 12.6 million hectoliters of beer which requires a minimum of 236,280tns of malt a year.
The rest of the demand is tended to by imports of around 156,600tns.
The paid-up capital of Asella Malt was raised from USD 775,959 to USD 8.45 million, following new regulations that were approved by the Council of Ministers (CoM).
“The government will privatise all state-owned enterprises step by step as a strategy,” said Wondarfash Assefa, communications director at the Ministry.
Since the inception of the ministry twenty years prior, it has successfully privatized 377 public companies with 96 percent of all payments settled in full. 87 percent of these companies were transferred to local buyers.
