The former SAB chair was passionate about SA — he was less likely to brag about the group’s massive balance sheet and more likely to boast about the SA flag flying in 80 countries.
Meyer Kahn, former CEO and chair of SA Breweries, would probably have been happy enough if SAB had remained as what he termed “a temporary sole supplier” of beer to the local market. He was passionate about SA and seemed to like nothing more than being in SA; preferably at a bar regaling his work colleagues or, better still, at home with his family.
As the SAB executive team saw it, the global beer industry was in for a long period of consolidation as national champions were taken over by larger, better-resourced players. “We had the choice of becoming someone’s lunch or eating them for lunch,” said Kahn in his typical boytjie-from-Brits style, condensing volumes of management speak into one unsophisticated but effective sentence.
It was a difficult transition for the executives. SAB was a powerful, well-known and respected player in Africa but relatively unknown to analysts, journalists and the investment community in London. During results presentations in the early years the audience’s scepticism and borderline hostility were evident. It took its toll on Wyman and Mackay. But not Kahn; or at least not that Kahn was going to reveal.
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