Suntory Beverage & Food, the Japanese group’s Tokyo-listed unit, has reached an agreement to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s Nigerian drinks business, a follow-up to a 2013 acquisition from the British drugmaker.
A purchase price for the assets, which generated around $73 million in sales last year, was not disclosed.
Suntory Beverage bought British drinks brands Lucozade and Ribena from Glaxo in 2013 for 1.35 billion pounds ($2.1 billion at the time). Since then, the company has outsourced production and sales of the drinks in Nigeria to Glaxo’s local unit. Suntory Beverage’s takeover of these operations is meant to boost profitability.
The Japanese company has made other acquisitions, including French beverage maker Orangina Schweppes Group in 2009, to pursue growth in overseas markets.