Cuba, British American Tobacco sells its stake in the Brascuba joint venture

The British multinational British American Tobacco (Bat) has sold its 50% stake in Brascuba, putting an end to almost 30 years of presence in the Cuban cigarette industry. The operation involved the sale of the stake for 25 million dollars to the Cuban company Tabagest, linked to the state tobacco sector, as well as the sale of trade credits for another 35 million dollars. The Martí Noticias website reports this on the basis of the group's financial documents.

Founded in 1995 in collaboration with the Brazilian Souza Cruz, Brascuba produces and markets cigarettes under brands such as Popular, Cohiba and H. Upmann. In 2016, the company announced an investment of around $120 million to move production to the Mariel Special Development Zone, with an expected capacity of up to 15 billion cigarettes per year. Bat had also recorded an accounting write-down of £231m on assets linked to operations in Cuba. Brascuba continues to operate under the new ownership structure, but the effects of Bat's exit on production and exports are not yet known.