Diageo wins bid to buy Ethiopia's last state brewery

Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group, has won a bid to buy Ethiopia's last-remaining state brewery for $225 million, an official said on Monday.

The giant brewer outbid Heineken, SAB Miller and local group Dashen to purchase Meta Abo, said Wondafrash Asefa, spokesman for the (Ethiopian) Privatisation and Public Enterprise Supervising Agency.

"There were four bidding companies: SouthWest Development PLC/Sab Miller with a combined $190 million bid, Heineken (NV) with $188 million and Dashen with $173 million in addition to Diageo's $225 million," he said.

"The decision was made on Friday," Wondafrash told Reuters.

The London-based company has said it expected 10 percent plus sales and profit growth in Latin America and Africa this year. Growth markets in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, as well as in Brazil and Mexico, have driven sales up 18 percent in the first three months of 2011.

Heineken, the world's third-largest brewer, won a bid to purchase Bedele and Harar breweries for a combined $163.3 million earlier this year.