South African soft drink brand Twizza is set to be acquired by Indian company Varun Beverages Limited, through its South African subsidiary, The Beverage Company, in a deal valued at nearly R2.1 billion.
The board of directors of Varun Beverages recently approved the acquisition of a 100% share capital of the iconic South African brand.
If the deal is concluded, the company’s South African subsidiary BevCo will acquire Twizza for R2.095 billion in cash. The deal is expected to be concluded by June 30, 2026.
The sale is still subject to approvals from the South African Competition Commission as well as the Competition Commissions of Botswana and Eswatini, where Twizza is distributed.
“The acquisition will enable BevCo to penetrate deeper in the South Africa market through Twizza’s three manufacturing facilities located at Cape Town, Queenstown and Middelburg,” the company said.
Twizza also has backward integration facilities at all plants. Following the acquisition, Varun Beverages said Twizza will become a “step-down subsidiary” of BevCo.
Varun Beverages is one of the largest franchisees of PepsiCo in the world outside of the United States, with bottling rights for PepsiCo’s portfolio of beverages, including Pepsi, 7Up, Mountain Dew, Aquafina water, Tropicana juice and Rockstar energy drinks.
In March 2024, it acquired The Beverage Company, South Africa along with its wholly-owned subsidiaries BevCo.
This acquisition allowed the company to consolidate its presence in franchised territories in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini, as well as territories with distribution rights in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Madagascar.
The decision to acquire Twizza was driven by its commercial success and South Africa’s market potential, with the largest market for soft drinks on the continent, according to Varun Beverages.
In the last financial year ending June 2025, Twizza had achieved sales volumes of 71 million cases, with a net revenue of R1,689 million.
Selling shares to BevCo would result in Ken Clark, the current owner and founder, and his family no longer holding ownership over the company he built in the 1980s, which has passed to the second generation of the Clark family.
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