By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A fresh capital worth about N1.2 billion has been injected into Golden Guinea Breweries Plc, a company based in Umuahia in Abia State.
The money was pumped into the brewery firm by a businessman, Mr Okey Nzenwa, through his company, Pan Marine Investment Limited.
Mr Nzenwa is the Chairman of Pan Marine Investment Limited, the core investor of Golden Guinea Breweries, a company which trades its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Business Post gathered that the lawyer-cum-businessman increased his stake in the organisation by acquiring additional 752,508,000 stocks through a private placement.
It was learned that the 752,508,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each of Golden Guinea Breweries were sold to Pan Marine Investment Limited at N1.60 per unit.
On Thursday, March 26, 2020, these additional stocks sold to Pan Marine Investment Limited were listed on the NSE, thereby increasing the total issued and fully paid up shares of Golden Guinea Breweries from 272,160,000 to 1,024,668,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.
Information gathered by Business Post has it that Golden Guinea Breweries has commenced operations after years of staying idle due to a fire outbreak that badly affected its factory and equipment.
Early this year, Mr Nzenwa visited wife of late Mr Michael Okpara, the man who founded the company many years ago when he was the Premier of the defunct Eastern Region. During the visit, he presented the revived product to the widow, who could not hide her excitement and prayed for the success of the company.
In 2018, Golden Guinea Breweries, through the efforts of Mr Nzenwa, received a funding package worth N3.6 billion from the Nigerian Export Import Bank (NEXIM) with the Bank of Industry also pitching in with an Economic Revival Facility.
Golden Guinea was originally named Independence Brewery Limited. It started production in 1963 with an annual capacity of 1 million gallons.
The company introduced Eagle Stout to the market in 1967 but between 1967 and 1970, further production was hampered by the Nigerian Civil War.
In 1971, the company changed its name to Golden Guinea Breweries and four years later, it was revamped and an extension built by the German firm Coutinho Caro which later participated in an equity offering issued by the firm.
However, production at the brewery was hampered by a fire incident in 2003 but recent attempts have been made to resuscitate the firm. The company holds franchise rights to produce and market Golden Guinea Beer, Holsten Brewery’s Bergedorf premium lager beer and Bergedorf Malta in Nigeria.
It was gathered that Golden Guinea lager Beer now produces 48,000 bottles per hour, twice more than what it was producing prior to 2003 when it was gutted by fire.
Adedapo Adesanya