Yanjing Brewery said to mull sale of a stake

It may just be a rumour: Beijing’s Yanjing Brewery Co., China’s third-largest brewer, plans to sell about a 20 percent stake to a foreign strategic partner, media reported in early February 2015.

The company, backed by the Beijing municipal government, is said to have reached out to potential investors including overseas brewers. The stake could be valued at about USD 700 million based on Yanjing’s current share price. Yanjing’s market value is USD 3.6 billion.

A deal would give Yanjing, the only major Chinese brewer without an overseas partner, access to foreign know-how and technology to counter slowing sales growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Sales at Yanjing rose 3.8 percent to 12.7 billion yuan (USD 2 billion) for the nine months ended September, while the sales of larger competitor Tsingtao (in which Asahi has a 19.9 percent stake) increased 6.4 percent to 27.6 billion yuan for the period.