Bahamas News

A Barbadian beverage conglomerate has agreed to buy a 30 per cent stake in CARIBCO - owner and operator of the Coca-Cola franchise in The Bahamas.

Banks Holding Limited, brewer of Banks beer, is not attaching a dollar figure to the deal finalized last week. But CARIBCO only purchased the franchise from the Caribbean Bottling Company in August for $10.6 million.

A public company, BHL is expected to help the local bottler improve its manufacturing processes in an effort to increase productivity.

CARIBCO initially approach-ed the company to enter a bid to buy its operation outright, said BHL CEO Richard Cozier. It later decided on a partnership deal with a Bahamian group. “We viewed this as a more feasible option and agreed,” he said.

In addition to its brewery holdings, the company traded on the Barbados exchange, has both dairy and soda operations. It in fact bottles Coca-Cola in that country. “Our experiences in Barbados over the past five years have placed us in a position where we have the resources in-house to facilitate a similar technological upgrade of the Bahamas facilities,” said Cozier.

His company will also acquire a 46.58 per cent stake in Citrus Products of Belize Limited, which grows and processes oranges.

Here, it’s likely to BHL that realizes spinoff benefits for its operations. “Our investment in CPBL guarantees the continuity of supply of citrus concentrates to (our dairy),” he said. “CPBL is already a supplier of orange juice and grapefruit concentrate to the dairy and the deal paves the way for more detailed discussions in respect of other flavor combinations. ”

Both the purchase here and in Belize come at the urging of shareholders of BHL stock, who have asked the company to reach beyond the small Caribbean nation.

“The Barbadian market is not getting any larger,” said Cozier, “and we must look at the wider Caribbean to grow in order to deliver the type of volumes we are looking for.”

By Vernon Clement
The Nassau Guardian