Investment holding company Long4Life will acquire Inhle Beverages, a contract packaging business in Gauteng, for up to R360-million in cash and shares.
Inhle, which is based in Heidelberg, specialises in the canning and bottling of carbonated soft drinks, mineral water and energy drinks. It is the second-largest beverage contract packaging business in South Africa and has seven production lines, with scope for further expansion.
The business employs about 300 people.
Long4Life believes the acquisition will provide a “solid and strategic platform” on which Long4Life can build a beverage business of scale through organic and acquisitive growth.
“Immediate access to the largest market in the country, as well as its proximity to surrounding territories, positions Inhle extremely well from an expansionary point of view,” Long4Life CEO Brian Joffe commented on Wednesday.
The company further notes that Inhle had recently secured a liquor licence, representing an additional opportunity to expand and grow Inhle’s presence in the beverages sector.
This is Long4Life’s third acquisition since listing on the JSE in April. The company in July announced it would buy beauty salon chain Sorbet and cash retailer Holdsport, which trades as Sportsmans Warehouse and Outdoor Warehouse, in two separate transactions.