Suntory Beverage & Food (SBF) is selling its stake in its Indonesian non-alcoholic beverage venture.
The Japanese soft-drinks and food giant has sold its 75% stake in Suntory Garuda Beverage to partner Garudafood, an Indonesian food and beverage manufacturer.
In a stock-exchange statement, publicly-listed SBF said it wanted to “focus primarily on the health enrichment category in Indonesia”. The group added the decision was made as part of its “continuous portfolio review”.
Suntory Garuda Beverage has manufacturing, bottling and distribution operations for non-alcoholic beverages in Indonesia. Its products include the tea brands Mytea and Mounttea, as well as the jelly-based beverage Okky.
The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2024, having been agreed by SBF’s board of directors on 28 December. SBF indicated the sale will have “minor impacts” on its consolidated business results.
Headquartered in Japan, SBF is a global soft drinks group with operations in Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
In the nine months ended 30 September 2023, SBF reported a revenue of Y1.1trn ($7.7bn) and a profit of Y83.7bn.
Last year, Suntory Holdings eliminated its global RTD development department, which was under the spirits company of Suntory Spirits, as the group opened a Suntory RTD Company.
The move was designed to “accelerate business growth in the growing global RTD market”, the group said as it appointed Sho Semba as CEO of Suntory RTD Co. past March
