End of an era for iconic South African beverage brand

South African soft drink brand Twizza is set to be acquired by Indian company Varun Beverages Limited, through its South African subsidiary, The Beverage Company, in a deal valued at nearly R2.1 billion.

The board of directors of Varun Beverages recently approved the acquisition of a 100% share capital of the iconic South African brand. 

If the deal is concluded, the company’s South African subsidiary BevCo will acquire Twizza for R2.095 billion in cash. The deal is expected to be concluded by June 30, 2026. 

The sale is still subject to approvals from the South African Competition Commission as well as the Competition Commissions of Botswana and Eswatini, where Twizza is distributed. 

“The acquisition will enable BevCo to penetrate deeper in the South Africa market through Twizza’s three manufacturing facilities located at Cape Town, Queenstown and Middelburg,” the company said. 

Twizza also has backward integration facilities at all plants. Following the acquisition, Varun Beverages said Twizza will become a “step-down subsidiary” of BevCo. 

Varun Beverages is one of the largest franchisees of PepsiCo in the world outside of the United States, with bottling rights for PepsiCo’s portfolio of beverages, including Pepsi, 7Up, Mountain Dew, Aquafina water, Tropicana juice and Rockstar energy drinks. 

In March 2024, it acquired The Beverage Company, South Africa along with its wholly-owned subsidiaries BevCo.

This acquisition allowed the company to consolidate its presence in franchised territories in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini, as well as territories with distribution rights in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Madagascar.

The decision to acquire Twizza was driven by its commercial success and South Africa’s market potential, with the largest market for soft drinks on the continent, according to Varun Beverages. 

In the last financial year ending June 2025, Twizza had achieved sales volumes of 71 million cases, with a net revenue of R1,689 million. 

Selling shares to BevCo would result in Ken Clark, the current owner and founder, and his family no longer holding ownership over the company he built in the 1980s, which has passed to the second generation of the Clark family.

From a five-cow dairy farm to a national soft drinks empire

Clark’s story began in 1980 on a dairy farm in Queenstown. He began selling milk to the residents of the Eastern Cape.

In an interview with News24, Clark said that he had only five cows and one employee at the time when he built his first company, Crickley Dairy. 

“My dad was a sheep and cattle farmer in the Dordrecht district, and had a small dairy. I took a liking to dairy as a youngster,” he said.

The dairy farm grew with time, adding fruit juices to its product offering.

Before long, however, Clark decided to pursue his dream of producing affordable refreshments and began investigating the process of producing carbonated soft drinks – Twizza. 

Clark travelled to Germany, Poland and Italy to examine manufacturing equipment and returned to Queesntown with a plan. 

In 2003 he launched Twizza in Queenstown, now Komani, selling an affordable range into townships and small retailers that big brands often serve through longer, pricier chains.

“We started with very small beginnings,” Clark told the African Business Journal. Clark said the company’s first production line was capable of handling only 4,000 litres an hour.

The start-up, however, quickly outgrew its manufacturing plant within five months of operating. 

The brand expanded beyond its origin in the Eastern Cape, and Clark established the Middelburg manufacturing facility in 2012 to meet the growing demand. 

In 2015, this was followed by the opening of the Cape Town facility.

Today, Twizza produces a wide variety of soft drinks, energy drinks and mixers, with popular flavours like pineapple, cola, grenada, orange, ginger beer and grape. 

Clark says that each flavour was created through a stringent process between the founder and his product development team, who tweaked each product until it was perfect.  

Twizza beverages are known for their affordability. Clark credits the company’s ability to keep prices low with its ownership of the value chain from start to finish. 

“There’s a lot to be said for owning the value chain, and I think it’s an integral part of our success. The minute you outsource too much to others, you become their cash cow. Also it takes a huge amount of risk out of a business,” said Clark.

Clark currently holds the position of executive chair at Twizza, with day-to-day operations handled by his son, who is now the CEO, Lisle Clark.

Twizza now employs more than 650 people and has earned Top Employer certification every year since 2022.

Despite growing into one of the region’s largest soft drink manufacturers, Twizza says it continues to prioritise its workforce, crediting its defined culture and focus on nurturing talent as central to its long-term vision.