Juniper Glass Industries PLC disclosed it has finished all regulatory and merger requirements which enables it to form a venture with 2 other firms. The partnership between the 3 companies is going invest a total of 70 million USD and set up a glass manufacturing plant in Ethiopia. For this investment Juniper has joined hands with CONSOL Glass and Roha Venture.

The plant is said to have a capacity of producing 60,000 tons of glass every year. This capacity is equal to 200 million glass bottles.

According to Brooks Washington, CEO of Juniper, Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) has approved a 25 million USD loan. This loan is going to be part of the 70 million USD investments Juniper is set to make.

CONSOL, according to The Reporter, is a glass packaging manufacturers in Africa. It operates mainly in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. The company exports to 17 Sub-Saharan countries from these 3 countries.

Roha, on the other hand, is known as a Greenfield Investment company and it develops new businesses in Africa.

By forming the partnership between themselves, the 3 companies aim to supply their products to the Ethiopian market and also export their products, when they start production in 18 months time. They have also conferred with bottlers in Ethiopia in the aim of substituting imports of glass packing and containers.

Currently there is only one glass and bottle manufacturer in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa Bottle and Glass S.C. (AABG). The company was privatized recently and it is owned by Ethiopian and Chinese investors. It has invested 1 billion Birr and it produces 153 million bottles per annum.

Ethiopia’s annual demand for glass bottles is 265 million. When Juniper joins the market and AABG expands, surplus products of glass and bottle are expected.

Source: The Reporter