Carlsberg said to ponder a sale to exit for good
The Carlsberg Group is reportedly looking for a buyer of its 100 percent subsidiary Carlsberg Uzbekistan. According to local rumour, Carlsberg is conducting negotiations and there are investors wishing to acquire its assets. This being Uzbekistan, the sale could drag on for a while to force Carlsberg to accept a lower price for its brewery with a capacity of one million hl beer.
As Brauwelt International reported, Carlsberg Uzbekistan started experiencing serious problems a year ago, when “very important people” became interested in its earnings. After police raids - so we heard - its Russian CEO decided to leave the country. In its full year 2011 financials already, Carlsberg booked impairment losses for its Uzbek subsidiary of DKK 300 million (EUR 40 million).
Things got a lot worse this year. By March, Carlsberg had run out of raw materials and was forced to cease production. It sent its staff on leave until September, with only a few people remaining to maintain the brewery.
Hopefully, Carlsberg has a stash of the local currency left to pay its staff for looking after the brewery or valuable bits and pieces might start wandering off.
Another rumour had it that Carlsberg was considering packing up its brewery to send it to neighbouring Turkmenistan - a mainly Muslim country of 5 million people.
Turkmenistan occupies a critical geographic juncture, sharing long borders with Afghanistan and Iran, and acts as a transportation, humanitarian, and economic link to Afghanistan. Rich in natural resources (oil and gas), it is a closed society with an authoritarian political system and centralised economy, says the U.S. government.
Still, it has five breweries (whether they are all operating, we have been unable to ascertain) which produced an estimated 180,000 hl beer in 2011, according to the Barth Report. However, to satisfy demand, a lot of beer consumed is imported Baltika. Whoever imports beer into Turkmenistan must enjoy a krysha or very good relations to those in power. Therefore, it's highly unlikely that a foreign-owned company like Carlsberg would have been welcome to set up shop. That's probably one of the reasons why Turkmenistan was never considered a viable option by Carlsberg.
As things stand, Carlsberg should call itself lucky if it can find a buyer for its brewery in Uzbekistan.
