Home of Marathon Sugar moves to Bokomo Namibia stable
Two joint ventures in the Frans Indongo Group were consolidated this week with the acquisition of Tongaat Hulett Namibia by Bokomo Namibia.
Chief Executive of Bokomo Namibia, Hubertus Hamm said Bokomo now has significant scale “which allows us to compete more effectively, and thus enables us to provide a large range of complementary food and beverage products to our valued customers and consumers across Namibia.”
Bokomo was a distribution branch of the parent company in South Africa, Pioneer Foods, until 2007 when the Frans Indongo Group acquired 50% shareholding of the local operation and it became a joint venture. Based in Windhoek, Bokomo Namibia focuses on wheaten flour, maize meal and pasta production and distributes a wide range of Pioneer Foods Group products in the region. It operates a wheat and maize mill as well as a pasta plant.
Tongaat Hulett Namibia is a joint venture between Tongaat Hulett South Africa and the Frans Indongo Group. Tongaat Hulett is a strong, well-established business and the merger sees its market-leading brand, Marathon Sugar, join a number of well-known household brand names manufactured and/or distributed by Bokomo Namibia.
Chief Executive of the Frans Indongo Group, Kobus van Graan said “Serving the community is at the heart of the group’s agenda and by bringing two of our important investments together, under one umbrella, we believe we are well-suited to continue driving the economic stability of an independent Namibia.”
The merger was approved by the Competition Commission on condition that no employee will be retrenched and that new employment contracts will not be less favourable than when they worked for Tongaat Hulett.
Since buying into Bokomo Namibia in 2007, the Frans Indongo Group’s focus has shifted from the retail industry to investment opportunities in manufacturing, marketing and distribution.
Caption: Hubertus Hamm (right), Bokomo Namibia’s Chief Executive, welcomes Tongaat Hulett Namibia’s former General Manager, Gielie van Zyl to the Bokomo family. Van Zyl is the new Chief Commercial Officer of the merged entity.
