AB InBev families launch juice division

The private investment fund belonging to the Belgian families de Mévius and de Spoelberch, who control worldwide beer market leaders AB InBev, are bringing all of its health-related beverages together in a separate holding, which is already worth 590 million euro.

Growing market

The new holding is called Verlinvest Beverages and currently consists of investments in three American companies: Hint, Vita Coco and Sambazon. Their revenue was virtually non-existent ten years ago, but that has grown significantly since then: Hint, which manufacturers fruit-flavoured water, generated a 70 million dollar (67 million euro) turnover in 2015, while Vita Coco’s 2014 turnover reached 420 million dollars (402 million euro). There is no insight into Sambazon’s revenue.

Normally, investment firm Verlinvest is looking for a strong ROI and usually sells its shares at the appropriate time, like when it sold Vitamin Water to Coca-Cola. However, Verlinvest Beverages seems a structural move into the juice industry, possibly with additional synergies between the different companies.