Heineken Beverages on Wednesday night held a #100DayStakeholderDinner to celebrate passing all regulatory hurdles on April 26 as it raised a glass to the future.
Earlier this year, Heineken finalised the acquisition of Distell and Namibia Breweries, which were to be combined with Heineken South Africa into a new Heineken majority-owned business, Heineken Beverages.
Brands in its stable include Heineken, Savanna, Windhoek, Amarula, Nederburg and many more.
Jordi Borrut, the new managing director of Heineken South Africa, said it was a long journey, but “the marriage has gone very well”.
Borrut also said despite the South African competition authorities stipulating that a maximum of 166 employees could be retrenched, the beer firm had managed not to retrench anyone, despite 57 voluntary retrenchments, jobs it aimed to replace.
“This dream of shaping the future, and Beer and Beyond applies to all the countries. It means that in every country of the world of Heineken, they’re now opening themselves up to Beyond Beer,” he said.
Its Beyond Beer range includes hard seltzers, canned wine, canned cocktails and more.
He said they were getting enquiries from countries such as Korea, Brazil, Germany and Vietnam, questioning the wider stable of brands after the merger, such as Savanna and Amarula, which was a growth opportunity.
BUSINESS REPORT