Amarula, the South African marula-fruit cream liqueur, is owned by Heineken. The Dutch brewing giant completed its acquisition of Distell — Amarula's maker — in April 2023, buying a 65% stake in a deal worth about €2.2 billion (US$2.5bn) 1, and folded it, with Namibia Breweries, into a new "Heineken Beverages" unit.
The deal took more than a year and a South African Competition Tribunal approval 2 to clear, and it handed Heineken not just Amarula but Distell's wider portfolio — 4th Street, Nederburg, Klipdrift 1.
So one of Africa's most recognisable drinks exports — the elephant on the bottle, made from a fruit that grows across Southern Africa — now sits inside a European brewer. African provenance, Dutch ownership: the same value-capture story as the cognac economy, in reverse of the African-owned houses trying to keep theirs. Tracked in Who's Buying Africa.
