SAB Miller will plough Tsogo Sun billion back into African operations

SAB Miller will reinvest the $1bn proceeds of the sale of its gaming, hotel and entertainment group Tsogo Sun back into its ‘core growth business’ including the African market.

Yesterday the company announced the sale of its 39.6% holding in Tsogo Sun yesterday and plans to dispose of its 435m shares it holds in the company.

SAB Miller CEO Alan Clark said: “Gaming and hotels are not core to our operations and we have concluded that the time is right for us to exit our investment through a transaction that is beneficial to shareholder of both SAB Miller and Tsogo Sun.”

The company's African operations netted it $4bn in revenue in 2013, around 13% of group revenues – the lowest out of SAB’s six regions.

However, high profit margins meant EBITA of $939m last year (putting Africa third in terms of its earnings contribution); it has 17 bottling plants in the country and employs 13,000 staff.