Geza Ulole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 31, 2009
- 59,226
- 79,516
Hahahah, Things are heating up, I love the game! wish this happened ever since! The cartel thing was killing us! More jobs are up as a result of their wrangle!
EABL loses bid to appeal British court freeze ruling
Posted Friday, December 18 2009 at 00:00
East African Breweries has lost a bid to appeal against a UK court ruling that stopped it from abandoning a beer sales contract with SABMillers subsidiary Tanzania Breweries for a stake in the rival Serengeti Breweries.
Lord Justice Laws and Sir David Keene denied the Kenyan brewer permission to file the appeal on grounds that the Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction on the matter, in a ruling delivered at the Queens Bench division of the UKs Commercial Court.
EABL had filed the notice of appeal on September 7 following an August ruling by the UK court that temporarily barred it from acquiring a stake in Serengeti until an ongoing arbitration between Diageo and SABMiller is concluded.
Diageo is the UK brewer with a major stake in EABL while SABMiller, the South African, brewer has a controlling stake in Tanzania Breweries Limited.
EABL has been ordered to pay SABMiller the costs of the suit even as the parties await a resumption of the arbitration early next year.
But the Kenyan brewer remained upbeat of finding a solution to the tussle saying it continues to look at other options.
The application to appeal was just one part of that, said EABL in a statement. Irrespective of this outcome, we will continue to pursue our claim against TBL in arbitration.
SABMiller claims that EABLs bid for a stake in Serengeti is in breach of a contract it signed with Diageo in 2002.
The contract was signed at the peak of a fierce and costly beer war in Kenya where SABMiller had established a brewery in 2000.
But the deal soon landed on the rocks driving the partners to an equally expensive legal battle that is expected to inform the texture of future cross-border business deals in East Africa.
The tussle over the 2002 share swap deal is before the International Chamber of Commerces arbitration panel and is scheduled for hearing in April next year.
Collapse of EABLs bid to appeal means the Kenyan brewer must continue cohabiting with Tanzania Breweries in a dour marriage until the arbitration case is determined.
Should the arbitrators fail to conclude the matter by end of next year, EABL will have the opportunity to terminate the marriage on January 17, 2011 when the current contract is due for renewal.
That will in turn delay EABLs plans to increase its presence in Tanzania at a time when growth has flattened out in the key Kenyan market.
On Thursday, EABL said it will in the meantime concentrate in building its relationship with Serengeti, who is the sole distributor of the Kenyan brewers world-class spirit brands in Tanzania.
Competition for control of Eastern Africas beer markets looks set to intensify as SABMiller and Diageo sharpen strategies to stamp their presence in the region.
SABMiller has unveiled plans to invest Sh1.2 billion in a malting plant in Uganda next year that will process locally grown barley, underscoring its confidence in the neighbouring country.
The beer wars come at a time when Kenyas second largest brewer, Keroche, has just launched its second beer brand -- Summit Malt.
EABLs marriage to TBL saw SABMiller cede a 20 per cent stake in TBL to the Kenyan brewer in exchange of a similar stake in Kenya Breweries.
That deal saw SABMiller exit Kenya where it had put up a bruising market share battle against EABL.
The latter also exited the Tanzanian market in return.
Under the agreement, the two firms were to manufacture and distribute each others flagship brands in their separate territories.
The agreement specifically provided that TBL would grow EABLs flagship Tusker brand in Tanzania among other brands as EABL did the same for SABMillers Castle brand in Kenya.
In the last five years, however, EABL increasingly got impatient with the marriage and embarked on a plot to end it on grounds that TBL had breached the deal.
In May 2007, when the contract came up for renewal as provided for in the agreement, EABL stepped back and later cancelled it, quickly initiating a similar deal with Serengeti Breweries.
The court determined that it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the appeal for a technical reason and did not consider the merits of our case as it agreed that the substantive parts of the case will be heard at arbitration, EABL said.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/824624/-/view/printVersion/-/bch93yz/-/index.html
EABL loses bid to appeal British court freeze ruling
Posted Friday, December 18 2009 at 00:00
East African Breweries has lost a bid to appeal against a UK court ruling that stopped it from abandoning a beer sales contract with SABMillers subsidiary Tanzania Breweries for a stake in the rival Serengeti Breweries.
Lord Justice Laws and Sir David Keene denied the Kenyan brewer permission to file the appeal on grounds that the Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction on the matter, in a ruling delivered at the Queens Bench division of the UKs Commercial Court.
EABL had filed the notice of appeal on September 7 following an August ruling by the UK court that temporarily barred it from acquiring a stake in Serengeti until an ongoing arbitration between Diageo and SABMiller is concluded.
Diageo is the UK brewer with a major stake in EABL while SABMiller, the South African, brewer has a controlling stake in Tanzania Breweries Limited.
EABL has been ordered to pay SABMiller the costs of the suit even as the parties await a resumption of the arbitration early next year.
But the Kenyan brewer remained upbeat of finding a solution to the tussle saying it continues to look at other options.
The application to appeal was just one part of that, said EABL in a statement. Irrespective of this outcome, we will continue to pursue our claim against TBL in arbitration.
SABMiller claims that EABLs bid for a stake in Serengeti is in breach of a contract it signed with Diageo in 2002.
The contract was signed at the peak of a fierce and costly beer war in Kenya where SABMiller had established a brewery in 2000.
But the deal soon landed on the rocks driving the partners to an equally expensive legal battle that is expected to inform the texture of future cross-border business deals in East Africa.
The tussle over the 2002 share swap deal is before the International Chamber of Commerces arbitration panel and is scheduled for hearing in April next year.
Collapse of EABLs bid to appeal means the Kenyan brewer must continue cohabiting with Tanzania Breweries in a dour marriage until the arbitration case is determined.
Should the arbitrators fail to conclude the matter by end of next year, EABL will have the opportunity to terminate the marriage on January 17, 2011 when the current contract is due for renewal.
That will in turn delay EABLs plans to increase its presence in Tanzania at a time when growth has flattened out in the key Kenyan market.
On Thursday, EABL said it will in the meantime concentrate in building its relationship with Serengeti, who is the sole distributor of the Kenyan brewers world-class spirit brands in Tanzania.
Competition for control of Eastern Africas beer markets looks set to intensify as SABMiller and Diageo sharpen strategies to stamp their presence in the region.
SABMiller has unveiled plans to invest Sh1.2 billion in a malting plant in Uganda next year that will process locally grown barley, underscoring its confidence in the neighbouring country.
The beer wars come at a time when Kenyas second largest brewer, Keroche, has just launched its second beer brand -- Summit Malt.
EABLs marriage to TBL saw SABMiller cede a 20 per cent stake in TBL to the Kenyan brewer in exchange of a similar stake in Kenya Breweries.
That deal saw SABMiller exit Kenya where it had put up a bruising market share battle against EABL.
The latter also exited the Tanzanian market in return.
Under the agreement, the two firms were to manufacture and distribute each others flagship brands in their separate territories.
The agreement specifically provided that TBL would grow EABLs flagship Tusker brand in Tanzania among other brands as EABL did the same for SABMillers Castle brand in Kenya.
In the last five years, however, EABL increasingly got impatient with the marriage and embarked on a plot to end it on grounds that TBL had breached the deal.
In May 2007, when the contract came up for renewal as provided for in the agreement, EABL stepped back and later cancelled it, quickly initiating a similar deal with Serengeti Breweries.
The court determined that it did not have the jurisdiction to hear the appeal for a technical reason and did not consider the merits of our case as it agreed that the substantive parts of the case will be heard at arbitration, EABL said.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/824624/-/view/printVersion/-/bch93yz/-/index.html