{"id":280492,"date":"2019-07-01T09:02:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T13:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?guid=6aed33ad8afa8fe57f6a1817a5c61a78"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:34:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:34:05","slug":"vasari-beverages-raises-100-million-to-grow-in-ethiopias-beer-and-spirits-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280492","title":{"rendered":"Vasari Beverages raises $100 million to grow in Ethiopia\u2019s beer and spirits market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vasari Beverages, an investment group that buys consumer drinks businesses, completed a $100 million fundraising in June 2019 and planned to expand its operations in Ethiopia while looking for acquisitions elsewhere in Africa and in Asia, The Africa Report said. Vasari holds stakes in Dashen Brewery, one of Ethiopia\u2019s largest brewers, and in the Rorank distillery, which makes spirits under the Super Eagle and Crystal brands.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-837263\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopian-beers-st-george-castel-2014.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Bottles of St. George and Castel, two common Ethiopian beers, on 14 January 2014\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bottles of St. George and Castel, two common Ethiopian beers, on 14 January 2014 (Ji-Elle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0) [file photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Vasari chief executive Vivian Imerman said Ethiopia\u2019s alcoholic drinks market had \u201cvery strong growth prospects.\u201d The magazine pointed to the country\u2019s population of about 105 million, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria, and a median age of 17, one of the youngest on the continent. The International Monetary Fund expected Ethiopia to be Africa\u2019s fastest-growing economy in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The main companies in the market were Heineken, Diageo, Dashen, BGI Ethiopia and Habesha, and investment in the sector was accelerating. The government had recently tightened rules on alcohol advertising.<\/p>\n<p>The magazine also listed the risks. In April the World Bank warned that political disruption and social unrest could slow growth by cutting investment, tourism and exports. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a research firm, still expected strong growth and said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed\u2019s government would push ahead with reforms and sell stakes in state-owned companies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theafricareport.com\/14745\/vasaris-fundraising-highlights-potential-of-ethiopias-drinks-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Africa Report<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vasari\u2019s fundraising highlights potential of Ethiopia\u2019s drinks market&nbsp;&nbsp;The Africa ReportEthiopia&#8217;s fast-growing economy and young population are attracting the interest of beverage investors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopian-beers-st-george-castel-2014.jpg?fit=1280%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1aY4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280492"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837281,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280492\/revisions\/837281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}