Beer: Castel redoubles its ambitions to consolidate its empire in Africa

Renowned for its thirst for acquisitions, Castel announced on Thursday the sale of its mineral water activities in Morocco. Fifteen days after the sale of its Ivorian water brands to a local family for 16.7 million euros, this is the group’s second step back in this segment. Far from reflecting any reluctance of the group on the African continent, this movement illustrates the refocusing on its core business: beer.

Founded more than seventy years ago by Pierre Castel, the very discreet family group is one of the leaders in wine in France. But, out of its 6 billion euros in annual turnover, it makes more than 5 billion with beer and drinks in 21 of the 56 African countries. So many markets where many Western groups have broken their teeth.

While the growth of the beer market remains very dynamic, the group has distinguished itself for decades on a continent that is both promising but complex, with very politically changing countries…