Keroche Breweries Limited is constructing a 1 Million-a-year hectolitre brew house (250 hectolitres per brew) in order to introduce two new beer brands and meet demand for the existing two, Summit Larger and Summit malt.
This comes at a time when brewer plans to raise its share of the beer market in Kenya to 20% in two years, and is increasing capacity to meet that target.
According to Reuters, the new project will cost the brewer KES 2.5 billion ($29.27 million), 80 % of which will be funded by a loan from Barclays Plc, 10% from an Italian supplier negotiated to be paid once production takes off, and another 10% to be obtained from the company’s internal sources.
Keroche started brewing in 2008 and today it has a 3% share of the beer market, which has significantly intensified the competition with top brewer, the East African Breweries Limited. In May this year, Keroche commissioned a KES 500 million plant to produce Crescent spirits, with a capacity of 10,000, 750 millilitre bottles per hour, in its bid to step up to the competition and capture 30% of the spirits market.
Keroche is plans to list its shares on the Nairobi bourse through a public offering in five years.