SABMiller and Coca-Cola will combine the operations which mix, bottle and distribute their soft drinks in Africa, creating a group with sales of $2.9 billion.

Coca-Cola Beverages Africa will be the continent’s largest soft drinks bottler, accounting for 40 per cent of all Coke volumes sold in Africa. It will serve 12 southern and eastern African countries.

The deal comes as brewers like SABMiller bulk up on low-margin fizzy drinks in emerging markets, where soft drinks are outpacing more lucrative sales of beer. For SABMiller bottling soft drinks may be less profitable than packaging beer but is a cheaper way to grow. “The idea behind the merger is to expand quicker, and over time we will look for more bottlers to acquire to grow the business further,” said Mark Bowman, Africa head of SABMiller. – Reuters