Desnoes and Geddes (“D&G”) advised the Jamaican Stock Exchange that they have sold their 5% shareholding in Brasserie Nationale d‟Haiti (“BNH”) and their 10% shareholding in Windward & Leeward, St Lucia (“W&L”) to Heineken (“HKN”) on 19th December, 2013 for a total value of J$982,486,000 (US$9.26 million).
“This is the right time to dispose of these minority shareholdings as we have ambitious plans for Red Stripe with several major initiatives being undertaken. These include the installation of our co-generation plant, plant optimization and Project Grow, which is the conversion to locally sourced raw materials. We are focusing on growing the Red Stripe business locally and internationally,” commented Cedric Blair, Managing Director of Red Stripe.
“The breweries in Haiti and St. Lucia will continue to brew Guinness under license for Diageo, in addition to the other licensed breweries in Guyana, Trinidad, the Bahamas, St. Vincent, Belize, Grenada, St. Kitts, Barbados, Panama, Dominica and Antigua.” added Blair.
The sale is not a surprise as the company had reflected the values as investment available for sale in the last audited financial statements at a value of $960 million. The value was determined by professional business valuators based on an a recent bid made for the shares by a third party, suggesting the company’s intension to sell.
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