OUR HISTORY:

• 1940s - started as a small trader in Kenya
  
  
• 1957 - opened trading business in Tanzania
  
  
• 1966 - transition to manufacturing with our first Greenfield, Tanzania Plastic Industries, making household plastic goods, furniture and rubber footwear
  
  
• 1975 - acquired a plastic pipes company, Simba Plastics, in Tanzania. Subsequent brownfield expansions in to injection and blow moulding, and film extrusion. Currently the largest plastics company in Tanzania
  
  
• 1979 - Greenfield plastics company started in Kenya (Sumaria Industries Ltd). Has been built into a leading manufacturer of thinwall containers and pens, preferred supplier to Unilever and Bidco
  
  
• 1980 - acquired J P Patel, one of the largest clearing and forwarding agents in Tanzania. Exited in 1990
  
  
• 1983 - acquired SIL Pack, a distressed packaging business in Kenya. Turned around and exited within 2 years
  
  
• 1984 - moved into pharmaceuticals with the acquisition of Shelys Pharmaceuticals. Has been built into the largest pharma business in Tanzania
  
  
• 1986 - started an agribusiness - Sumagro sisal plantations. Exited in 2006
  
  
• 1988 - Greenfield Coca Cola bottling plant started in Mwanza, Tanzania. Added 3 additional bottling lines (1 in PET) and a fleet of over 170 trucks in subsequent years. Nyanza Bottling Company is now the largest bottling plant out of 4 plants in Tanzania, serving a population of over 12m people
  
  
• 1992 - Greenfield plastics plant set up to do Rotational Moulding
  
  
• 1995 - acquired the assets of Sabuni Detergents Ltd (SDL), a government company in receivership. Restarted business and added Greenfield expansions into soap and toothpaste. From having been closed for 3 years, SDL was built into the market leader in Tanzania with over 60% market share for its main brand “Foma,” beating the African market leading brand and companies such as Unilever
  
  
• 1996 - Greenfield cotton ginning and cotton seed edible oil refinery commissioned. S&C Ginning is one of the largest cotton ginneries in Tanzania
  
  
• 1996 - started Rubicon Foods plc (now renamed Shana plc), creating a new market segment in frozen ethnic foods in the UK. Shana is now amongst the best known ethnic food brands in the UK
  
  
• 1996 - Greenfield frozen vegetables plant commissioned in India to help supply Shana and others. The plant was exited in 2009 and Shana now concentrates purely on marketing, innovation and distribution
  
  
• 2000 - Greenfield plastics JV in Nigeria with the Mohinani family, exited in 2006
  
  
• 2000 - Innovaxis, a marketing and design company, started in Nigeria. Relocated to India in 2006
  
  
• 2001 - acquired Royal Dairy, the largest dairy plant in Tanzania. Exited in 2007
  
  
• 2001 - DPI Simba set up as a plastic pipes JV with DPI Plastics (owned at the time by Sasol and Group 5, now owned by Dawn group, listed on the JSE)
  
  
• 2002 - Henley Industries set up as a JV with a local partner in DR Congo, as a distribution and trading business with synergies with SDL. Currently exiting as a result of exit from the Sabuni business
  
  
• 2003 - Shelys Pharmaceuticals acquired Beta Healthcare International (ex-Boots) a Kenyan pharmaceutical company, with the help of Private Equity Funding from Aureos Capital. The transaction made the enlarged Shelys Africa Group the largest pharmaceutical company in East and Central Africa and set a landmark as being the first ever deal in which a Tanzanian company acquired a large Kenyan company
  
  
• 2003 - Greenfield soap plant commissioned in Nacala, Mozambique, in conjunction with a local partner
  
  
• 2006 - Greenfield edible oil refinery commissioned in Nacala, Mozambique. Largest edible oil refinery in the country
  
  
• 2006 - acquired Farinal (wheat flour plant) and Ipan (biscuit manufacturing plant) in Nacala, Mozambique
  
  
• 2006 - SDL purchased the assets of Bodycare, with the help of Private Equity funding from Aureos Capital. Both Aureos and Sumaria exited the enlarged SDL group in 2008
  
  
• 2007 - Greenfield plant commissioned in Dubai. Plaasteka is a venture-type investment in a technologically-driven plastics additive business, with Swiss technology and partners
  
  
• 2007 - Greenfield pharmaceutical plant commissioned by Shelys Africa in Tanzania. Currently the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in East Africa and fully GMP compliant
  
  
• 2008 - Partnership with Aspen Pharmacare, the largest African pharmaceutical business, listed on the JSE. The transaction saw Aspen take a 60% stake in Shelys Africa and achieved a successful exit for Aureos Capital from their 2003 investment into Shelys Africa. Sumaria retain a 40% stake and continue to manage the company
  
  
• 2008 - exit of the FMCG businesses in Nacala, Mozambique, in exchange for full ownership of GS Cimentos, a Greenfield cement project opportuity in Maputo
  
  
• 2009 - consolidation of diverse East African plastics holdings into SIL Africa
  
  
• 2010(e) - Greenfield pharmaceutical plant due to be commissioned in Kenya, fully WHO GMP compliant

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