Diageo Sells Stakes in Guinness, Joining Multinationals Exiting Nigeria

On Tuesday, Diageo announced the decision to sell majority stakes in its subsidiary Guinness Nigeria to Tolaram Group, becoming the latest multinational to scale down business due to an economic downturn in Nigeria.

The drink company will sell its 58 per cent shares in Guinness to a Singaporean company, Tolaram, at 81.60 naira per share for $70 million (N103 billion).

The acquisition of Guinness Nigeria marks a pivotal moment in Tolaram’s journey of growth and diversification,” said Haresh Aswani, the group’s Managing Director in Africa.

Diageo’s CEO, Debra Crew, said, “I’m excited to announce our new partnership with Tolaram. Guinness has been Nigeria’s favourite beer for nearly 75 years. Tolaram shares this passion for Guinness and Nigeria, making them the perfect partners as we continue to grow our business and seek to delight even more consumers in the country.”

However, Diageo noted that it would retain ownership of the Guinness brand in Nigeria and continue to license it to Guinness Nigeria, as Nigeria makes up 1-2 per cent of Diageo’s global net sales value of 17.11 billion GBP in 2023.

Tolaram, on the other hand, has signed to acquire 58% of Diageo’s stakes, and it is a joint venture with several leading consumer goods multinationals such as Kellanova and Colgate-Palmolive.

Also, it is one of Africa’s largest consumer goods companies, with combined investments of more than $1bn in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the difficulties faced by Nigeria’s naira devaluation, inflation of 33.7 per cent and a $7 billion backlog owed to foreign companies by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which was cleared in March, and insecurities contribute to foreign businesses exiting in numbers.

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