Coca-Cola bottler to acquire Malawi soft drinks business

Blantyre – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa anticipates commencing operations in Malawi as soon as all regulatory requirements have been successfully concluded. 

This follows the recent approval by COMESA of the transaction between Coca-Cola Beverages Africa and Castel (Southern Bottlers Limited, or SOBO) to acquire Castel’s soft drinks business through Coca-Cola Beverages Africa’s subsidiary Coca-Cola Beverages Limited (CCBL).

Once operations commence, the soft drinks business will have its head office in Lilongwe. Both Blantyre and Lilongwe plants will serve as production, distribution and logistics sites for the newly-formed Coca-Cola Beverages Africa subsidiary.

Malawi is a new territory for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa which has a strong track record in the soft drinks category on the continent and is committed to sustainable growth in existing and new territories.  

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Frank O’Donnell

Chief Commercial and Customer Officer, CCBA

Frank leads CCBA’s commercial agenda, with responsibility for accelerating revenue growth, strengthening route to market and customer partnerships and driving execution excellence across markets.

Frank brings extensive international experience from Coca‑Cola HBC, where he held a range of senior commercial and general management roles. Most recently, he served as Region Director, overseeing 13 markets across Europe, where he led high-performing teams and delivered strong business results.

He is recognised for his strong commercial acumen, customer focus and track record in building high-performing teams across diverse markets.

Gerald Lewis

Chief Information Officer, CCBA

Gerald leads CCBA’s digital, data and technology agenda, focusing on enabling business performance through scalable platforms and enhanced digital capabilities.  Gerald brings extensive international experience, most recently as Head of Technology Strategy & Operations at Coca‑Cola HBC. He has also held senior CIO roles at Bacardi across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as transformation roles at GlaxoSmithKline and Mettler Toledo. He is recognised for translating technology strategy into business value and for leading transformation across emerging markets.

Matthew Welz

General Counsel and Company Secretary, CCBA

Matthew joined us from the Clicks Group, a JSE Top-40 company, where he has been the Head of Legal and Company Secretary since 2016. In this role Matthew successfully navigated a highly regulated environment, including overseeing compliance with company laws and the JSE Listings Requirements. As company secretary, he managed governance at Board level as well as being the Chairman’s chief of staff. Prior to this, Matthew was a Legal Manager with Anglo American, a major multinational diversified mining group, which includes three companies listed on the JSE, with extensive operations across Southern Africa.

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