Looking to accelerate growth of its business in Africa, PepsiCo, Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire all the outstanding shares of Pioneer Foods Group Ltd. for approximately $1.7 billion.
 
Pioneer Foods has a product portfolio that PepsiCo said complements its current lineup, with strong positions in cereals, juices, and other African nutritional food staples, including well-known, scaled brands like Weet-Bix, Liqui-Fruit, Ceres, Sasko, Safari, Spekko, and White Star.
 
At the same time, this acquisition will help PepsiCo gain a solid beachhead for expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa by boosting the company’s manufacturing and go-to-market capabilities, enabling scale and distribution. The deal brings together two likeminded companies, with both Pioneer Foods and PepsiCo aligned around a vision for building a more sustainable future and investing in communities, the groups said.
 
“As we look to accelerate our growth in key markets around the world and achieve our vision to Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose, we are absolutely thrilled to join forces with Pioneer Foods, one of South Africa’s leading food and beverage companies,” said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta. “Pioneer Foods represents a differentiated opportunity for PepsiCo and allows us to immediately scale our business in Africa. Pioneer Foods forms an important part of our strategy to not only expand in South Africa, but further into sub-Saharan Africa as well. Our businesses are highly complementary, and we look forward to working with the Pioneer Foods team to successfully build and implement a shared vision in the region.” 
 
The companies said the transaction creates a leading food and beverage company led from South Africa that is committed to supporting the broad socioeconomic imperatives of employment, talent development, and benefiting local suppliers. It will enable PepsiCo to expand its Sustainable Farming Program in Africa and work with local farmers in Pioneer Foods’ communities—including women and rural smallholders—to help boost yields, improve livelihoods, and preserve natural resources. PepsiCo said it is keenly aware of the importance of economic transformation through Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and intends to support Pioneer Foods’ BEE program.
 
“Today’s announcement marks a very exciting milestone for Pioneer Foods and our people, and highlights the strength of what we have created,” said Tertius Carstens, CEO of Pioneer Foods. “As part of PepsiCo, we will have greater scale to expand our leading brands, greater capital to invest in local agriculture and people, greater access to leading global capabilities and a partner committed to taking our company to even greater heights.”
 
As part of this transaction and PepsiCo’s goal to become faster and more locally focused, the company will create a new operating sector for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). PepsiCo SSA will be led by Eugene Willemsen, who most recently served as Executive Vice President of Global Categories & Franchise Management. Willemsen, who has been with PepsiCo for nearly 25 years, has extensive experience in growth markets, having previously led the company’s businesses in Turkey and South East Europe. This new structure will not impact PepsiCo’s reporting structure, and PepsiCo SSA will remain part of Europe Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA) from a financial reporting perspective. 
 
The acquisition, valued at approximately $1.7 billion, which implies approximately 11x FY2020E consensus EBITDA, will be funded through a combination of debt and cash, and has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies. The transaction is subject to a Pioneer Foods shareholder vote, certain regulatory approvals, and other customary conditions, and closing is expected by Q1 calendar year 2020.