VBL's South Africa Arm To Acquire 100% Stake Crickley Dairy For Rs 131 Crore

Second Largest PepsiCo franchisee globally, Varun Beverages, on Tuesday, March 17, informed bourses that its South Africa-based subsidiary, The Beverage Company Proprietary Ltd (Bevco), had acquired 100 % equity stake of Crickley Dairy Proprietary Limited.

According to the agreement, Bevco will acquire "100% equity stake of Crickley for an Enterprise Value of ZAR 238 million (INR 1,314.68 mn; 1 ZAR = 5.52 INR), subject to regulatory and other approvals (if any) including but not limited to Competition Commissions of South Africa."

The acquisition is in line with the official bottling partner of PepsiCo's strategy to "diversify its product portfolio into new categories viz. value-added dairy and juice-based drinks."

Earlier investment service provider Axis Direct noted a 10% upside and recommended a Buy call with a target price of Rs 500 per share.

"We recommend a BUY with a target price of Rs 500/share, implying an upside of 10% from the CMP," according to Axis Direct.

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Strategic Capacity Expansion to Drive Future Growth

VBL continues to strengthen its growth platform through calibrated capacity expansion Four new greenfield plants have been commissioned in high growth regions, alongside brownfield additions across key locations to improve scale and logistics efficiency.

Internationally, the Morocco snacks facility is now fully operational, while the Zimbabwe plant is close to commissioning, supporting portfolio diversification beyond beverages.

In Q4CY25, its consolidated volumes rose “10.2 % YoY to 237 Mn cases, led by India (10.5%) followed by international markets (+10%).”

About Varun Beverages Ltd

VBL is a key global beverage player and PepsiCo’s second largest franchisee worldwide (ex US) It operates across 10 countries with distribution rights in four more, with India as the core market, contributing 90 of PepsiCo’s beverage volumes domestically. The expanding Africa led international footprint reinforces VBL’s strategic importance within PepsiCo’s global network.