Nedbank buys 30% stake in soft-drinks company

Nedbank has bought a 30% stake in Little Green Beverages that make the Refreshhh brand of cold drinks. Image: Refreshhh.

Nedbank said it was attracted to LGB's growth story, not only in SA but in the rest of Africa. LGB, whose primary brand is Refreshhh, has a presence in all nine provinces and has ambitions to expand and supply its 16 flavoured carbonated beverages to African markets.

Clive Howell, head of private equity at Nedbank Capital, said his division typically wrote cheques of between R40m and R180m for investments. If opportunities were bigger Nedbank Private Equity engaged in syndicated deals with other private-equity companies.

"This year Nedbank Private Equity would like to make new investments of about R300m and LGB will be part of that," Howell said.

On how the proceeds would be used by LGB, Howell said the money would dilute the shareholdings of existing shareholders and create value for them.

Howell said Nedbank Private Equity has a portfolio of about R1.3bn and was attracted to well run and growth-orientated family-owned businesses in SA and the rest of Africa. It targets companies with revenues of between R300m to R1.5bn.

"We are quite generalistic. But we have four exclusions. We don't do direct mining, farming and real estate. We avoid things like gambling and alcohol," he said.

Howell said Nedbank Private Equity was open to doing investments outside SA. "We are looking at opportunities beyond SADC. We look for good opportunities," adding that if there were family-owned companies with a track record, then Nedbank was interested in talking to them.

Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge