GZ Industries of Nigeria Plans $100 Million Can Plant in Kenya

GZ Industries Ltd., a Nigerian can manufacturer, said it will invest $100 million in a plant in Kenya to tap growing demand for soft drinks.

The company, which sells cans to Guinness Nigeria Plc, a unit of Diageo Plc, and Nigeria Bottling Co., plans to start operations at a 1.2 billion can-a-year plant near the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in the first quarter of 2015, it said in an e-mailed statement today. GZI, based in Agbara, Nigeria, will initially target Kenya’s soda industry, which produced 371.4 million liters in 2011, before exporting to regional markets including Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, it said.

“We mark our entry into Kenya as a way of contributing to the growth of the manufacturing sector,” GZI Chief Executive Officer Motti Goldmintz said in the statement.

Kenya is East Africa’s biggest economy. GZI’s entry into the East African market follows other Nigerian investors including billionaire Aliko Dangote, who announced in September he plans to spend $400 million building a cement plant in the country.