IN SHORT: Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s largest bottling partner outside the US, completed the R2.1 billion ($125 million) acquisition of South African soft drinks maker Twizza in March 2026, integrating it under BevCo, its existing South African subsidiary. All regulatory approvals were received from South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini. Twizza operates three manufacturing plants and distributes across five Southern African countries, giving Varun a strengthened platform for its Africa-first growth strategy.
PepsiCo’s largest global bottler has acquired South Africa’s Twizza in a R2.1 billion ($125 million) deal that gives Varun Beverages direct manufacturing and distribution infrastructure across five Southern African countries, as the Indian conglomerate accelerates its strategy of building Africa into one of its primary international growth markets.
The transaction closed in March 2026 following regulatory clearances from competition authorities in South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini. Twizza is now fully integrated into BevCo, Varun’s South African operating subsidiary.
- Twizza was founded by Ken Clark and grew into one of South Africa’s most recognisable independent soft drinks brands, operating under its own label rather than a PepsiCo licence. The Clark family exits in full following the transaction. Twizza’s three manufacturing plants, located in Cape Town, Middelburg and Komani in the Eastern Cape, give Varun geographically distributed production capacity across South Africa’s main consumption corridors.
- The company generated revenue of R1.689 billion ($113 million) in FY2025 and sold approximately 71 million cases. Its distribution network covers South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Namibia, five countries Varun can now service with owned manufacturing rather than through third-party arrangements or imports.
- Varun Beverages is listed on Indian exchanges and operates as PepsiCo’s exclusive bottler across large parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Its African footprint now spans Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC and South Africa. The company has consistently flagged Africa as its highest-priority international expansion geography, citing population growth, urbanisation, rising disposable incomes and low per-capita beverage consumption as structural growth drivers.
- The Twizza acquisition builds on Varun’s existing BevCo platform, which was established in South Africa through an earlier transaction. Adding Twizza’s owned brands, manufacturing plants and multi-country distribution gives Varun the scale and vertical integration to compete more directly with Coca-Cola’s Southern African operations.
- Standard Bank acted as financial adviser on the transaction. The deal was financed from Varun’s existing balance sheet and available credit facilities. At R2.1 billion, the transaction is sized relative to Twizza’s revenue and asset base at approximately 1.2x revenue, a disciplined acquisition multiple for a profitable, asset-heavy consumer goods business.
- The Southern African beverages market is structurally attractive for a long-horizon investor. South Africa alone has a population of approximately 62 million with growing urban middle-class consumption. The five-country footprint acquired through Twizza gives Varun access to a combined market of over 70 million consumers.
Varun Chairman Ravi Jaipuria has described Africa as central to the group’s ambition to become PepsiCo’s largest global bottler by volume, a position currently held by its US operations.
The Bigger Picture: Varun’s Africa strategy is a masterclass in patient capital deployment. Rather than entering the continent through a single large greenfield bet, it has assembled a multi-country platform through sequential acquisitions, each building on the last. Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC and now a strengthened South African position. The pattern is consistent: buy established operations, integrate under the Varun/PepsiCo system, and use the combined platform to grow per-capita consumption. For South African industry, the Twizza sale is another data point in a longer trend: Indian conglomerates are becoming one of the continent’s most active acquirers of consumer-facing businesses, drawn by the same demographic story that Western investors still approach cautiously.
Source: IOL / ChannelIAM
