London-listed Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company says it remains on course for a secondary listing on the JSE this year, after South Africa's Competition Commission recommended approval of its $2.6bn deal to buy Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. The commission said on Monday it would advocate for the Competition Tribunal to approve the transaction, with conditions — one of which is the Johannesburg listing HBC had already committed to.
"We remain on track to complete the acquisition by the end of 2026 and are continuing to work through the customary regulatory approvals," the company told Business Day. "We also remain on track with preparations for the secondary listing of our shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange."
What the commission asked for
The endorsement came with strings. Alongside the JSE listing, the commission attached a moratorium on retrenchments and a commitment to invest in the downstream distribution and retail side of the South African business. The commission said it takes the view that the transaction "is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market." Final sign-off now rests with the tribunal.
$2.6bnPrice for 75% of Coca-Cola Beverages AfricaR395bnCoca-Cola HBC's market value in LondonSource: Business Day
Why HBC wants Africa
HBC announced in October that it would buy 75% of CCBA from The Coca-Cola Company and Gutsche Family Investments. The deal creates the world's second-largest Coca-Cola bottling partner by volume and lifts HBC's footprint to 43 countries from 29. CCBA is already the biggest Coke bottler on the continent, accounting for roughly 40% of all Coca-Cola volumes sold in Africa.
It also shifts HBC's centre of gravity away from Russia, its top-selling market in 2024 at about 13% of revenue — a market ratings agency S&P has flagged as a growth risk given sanctions over the war in Ukraine. S&P estimates that once the deal closes, South Africa will overtake Russia as HBC's largest market at roughly 15% of total revenues.
What it means
A secondary listing does not raise new money for the JSE, but it does put a large, hard-currency consumer business on a bourse that has been shrinking for years — and one whose earnings South African savers can own directly through local funds.
The retrenchment moratorium is the part worth watching. CCBA announced plans to cut more than 600 jobs in September 2025, so the commission's conditions are a response to a live concern rather than a formality. How binding they prove will be settled at the tribunal.
