Ethiopia: Purpose Black Snaps Back in BGI-Ethiopia Property Deal Saga

5 March 2024
The Reporter (Addis Ababa)

Purpose Black blames BGI Ethiopia for a property transaction gone awry, alleging it paid the brewer over one billion birr for its plot in Addis Ababa before the deal was scrapped yesterday.

BGI Ethiopia agreed to the sale of its landmark plot near Mexico Square to Purpose Black in July 2023 for a reported five billion birr. The brewer is in the process of moving operations to a plant in Sebeta acquired as part of the Meta Abo deal with Diageo.

Yesterday, BGI management announced it had terminated the sale to Purpose Black, which it said failed to live up to the financial terms of the agreement.

- Advertisement -Purpose Black has reportedly already paid a 1.15-billion-birr installment to BGI Ethiopia.

In a statement today, Purpose Black's attorneys alleged that tax-related issues on BGI's side were behind the deal falling through.

Purpose Black failed to make payment installments because BGI failed to finalize paperwork, according to Ermias Berhanu, a senior legal advisor to the company.

"We are ready to pay the 2.5 billion birr expected of us for the second-round installment, when BGI Ethiopia finalizes the paperwork. We are also ready to sign the contract," said Ermias. "They [BGI] terminated the contract because they could not meet the legal requirements."

Purpose Black is considering taking the case to court, according to the attorney.

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