SABMiller announced a review of its stake in Tsogo Sun earlier this year

SABMiller announced a review of its stake in Tsogo Sun earlier this year

SABMiller is in line to earn around US$1bn from the sale of its holding in South African gaming, hotel and entertainment group Tsogo Sun Holdings.

The brewer, which originally hails from South Africa, said this morning (7 July) that it will offload its 39.6% stake in Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Tsogo Sun. The decision to sell the shares, which are valued at ZAR11.7bn (US$1.09bn) based on Friday's closing share price, follows the conclusion of a “strategic review” by SABMiller of its holding.

The sale will comprise two transactions, a buy-back by Tsogo of 30% of SABMiller's shares, and a placing of the remaining 305m shares.

“SABMiller has been a supportive shareholder of Tsogo Sun since 2002, when we transferred our existing gaming and hotel assets into Tsogo Sun,” said CEO Alan Clark today. “However, gaming and hotels are not core to our operations and we have concluded that the time is right for us to exit our investment.”

The company said it will reinvest the proceeds from the transaction in its “core growth businesses, including our African operations”.