The Brief

A monthly wrap-up of News Worth Knowing

Heineken gets final approval to acquire Namibia Breweries, Distell

Heineken has received final regulatory approval from the South African Competition Tribunal to acquire control over Distell Group Holdings Limited and Namibia Breweries, paving the way for the creation of a regional African beverage champion.

The decision follows approvals from the Namibia Competition Commission, the Common Market of Eastern & Southern Africa, and all other relevant jurisdictions.

As part of its approval condition, the Namibian competition watchdog demanded that Distell's products consumed in Namibia be manufactured or at least be bottled locally, among a raft of conditions.

Heineken's CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Dolf van den Brink expressed his excitement about the deal and the opportunities it creates: "We are delighted the Competition Tribunal has approved the deal. We are very excited to bring together three strong businesses to create a regional beverage champion, with a unique multi-category offer to better serve consumers, customers and create shared societal value across Southern Africa. We are committed to being a strong partner for growth and making a positive impact in the communities in which we operate, and the proactive and comprehensive public interest package we've put forward is testament to that."

Heineken's total investment in the newly formed company, Newco, will be approximately N$47 billion (€2.4 billion) for a 65% shareholding. The investment will include a cash pay-out of approximately N$23.5 billion (€1.2 billion) funded from bonds, existing cash resources, and committed credit facilities, as well as the contribution of its currently owned assets, including 75% of Heineken South Africa (HSA), 100% of its export businesses in certain other African markets, and its minority interest in Namibia Breweries Limited.

According to Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL), its planned acquisition by Heineken NV has the potential to attract investment worth N$10 billion for the country.

Boost for Walvis Bay tourism as luxury cruise line adds town to destinations

The tourism sector in Walvis Bay is expected to receive a boost after Regent Seven Seas Cruises announced its upcoming World Cruise for 2026, which will embark on a 154-night voyage across 41 countries and six continents, including a stop at the Port of Walvis Bay.

This marks the luxury cruise line's longest World Cruise to date, and it is set to depart from Port Miami in Florida on January 10th, 2026, aboard the Seven Seas Mariner vessel.

The itinerary showcases a selection of exotic destinations such as Bora Bora in French Polynesia, Darwin in Australia, and Walvis Bay in Namibia.

This comes as the Namibian Ports Authority is set to receive 26 more passenger vessels between March and May 2023.

Germany, Mali and Botswana sign climate change joint declaration

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Southern African Science Services Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) as well as the Western African Science Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Use (WASCAL) have signed a declaration that will see the three organisations jointly counter effects of climate change.

The Joint Declaration of Intent emphasises the need for joint efforts to improve the projection of the impact of climate change on the economic development of the African regions and the means to provide empirical evidence to policymakers on land use that will help counter these effects.

This will in turn encourage and promote research and innovation at the regional and national levels.

Namibia in record February passenger vehicle sales as Toyota dominates

Namibia experienced a record-breaking surge in passenger vehicle sales during February 2023, according to the latest data.

A total of 1,103 new vehicles were sold, which is 294 more than the revised figure for January, representing a 24.9% year-onyear increase from the 883 new vehicles sold in February 2022.

Of the 1,103 vehicles sold in February 2023, 559 were passenger vehicles, marking an increase of 17.4% month-on-month and 27.3% year-on-year. IJG noted that this was the highest monthly number of new passenger vehicle sales since July 2018.

Toyota emerged as the leader in passenger vehicle sales, capturing 37.8% of the segment sales year-to-date, followed by Volkswagen with 24.3% of the market share, Kia with 8.3%, and Suzuki with 5.4%.

According to vehicle sales data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), 1,035 passenger vehicles were sold in the first two months of 2023, which is the highest number of year-to-date sales by February since 2016.

Trade ministry develops decarbonisation policy for RAC sector

Namibia's Ministry of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT) is taking steps to tackle global warming by developing a National Cooling Strategy aimed at decarbonising the Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning (RAC) sector.

According to Lucia Iipumbu, Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, the draft Strategy is complete and will be subjected to national stakeholder consultations before being tabled at the highest policy institutional architectures for endorsement.

"We initiated the National Policy on Climate Change in 2011 to translate the government’s will and commitment to tackle global warming and recognised that achieving our targets and commitments requires sectoral approaches, thus the country has also drafted its National Cooling Strategy," she said.

Speaking at the Decarbonising Namibia Conference, Iipumbu explained that the policy was born out of the government’s commitment to tackle global warming through sectoral approaches.

She noted that refrigeration and air-conditioning are significant contributors to global warming, both directly and indirectly, and with the demand for cooling expected to grow with the population and rising temperatures, there is an urgent need to reduce and gradually phase out coolingrelated and energy-wasting hydrofluorocarbon technologies.

To achieve this, the government, in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders, plans to implement various interventions such as licensing and quota systems. The government also plans to train customs officers on the identification and control of import of ozone-depleting substances and technician training on good and safe service practices.

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