PepsiCo to acquire South Africa’s Pioneer Foods

As part of its strategy to expand in South Africa and further into Sub-Saharan Africa, PepsiCo has agreed to acquire all shares of the Pioneer Foods group for a total figure of $1.7 billion (11 times FY2020E consensus EBITDA).

The deal brings together two highly complementary companies with the same sustainable vision and expands PepsiCo’s portfolio with a wide range of products for the local market (cereals and fruit juices in particular) sold under the Weet-Bix, Liqui-Fruit, Ceres, Sasko, Safari, Spekko and White Star brands.

Pioneer Foods ($1.4 billion revenue in 2018) exports to more than 80 countries in Africa and beyond, and has joint ventures in Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and Nigeria.