It does not seem as if lots of potential buyers are queuing outside Asahi’s door. Although it has been an open secret for the better part of this year that Japanese brewer Asahi seeks to sell its 20 percent stake in Tsingtao, the number two brewer in the country, only two competitors have come forward so far: China Resources Beer, China’s number one brewer, and Carlsberg, which ranks fifth.

For long craft brewers have complained that they cannot get access to taps as publicans prefer to contract them out to the country’s two big brewers – CUB (AB-InBev) and Lion (Kirin). Despite there being almost 400 craft brewers, Lion and CUB control more than 50 percent of the craft segment through brands like Little Creatures, James Squire and White Rabbit (Lion), as well as Matilda Bay Brewing, Wild Yak and Goose Island (CUB). Even Coca-Cola Amatil has moved into this space and so have the retailers.

The alcohol division of Bickford’s, otherwise best known in Australia for its cordials and fruit juices, has acquired the craft brewer Vale. Both businesses are from South Australia and privately owned. The deal was announced on 12 October 2017.

Renaissance Brewing, the first local company to receive equity crowdfunding, has gone into voluntary administration after cash flow problems and product management issues, it was reported on 10 October 2017.

Is this a preemptive step to avoid being fined? Asahi Breweries will raise the wholesale price of beer delivered mainly to bars and restaurants by about ten percent in March 2018, the company’s first price hike since 2008, Japan’s media reported on 4 October 2017.

Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings said on 2 October 2017 that it plans to divest its interest in a beverage joint venture with Indonesia's Indofood, a unit of Salim Group, to refocus on its core alcohol business.

Asahi has massively overpaid for its Australian acquisitions. This is what observers say and what is underlined by its accounts. In September 2017 the Australian Financial Review (AFR) ran a piece, which argued that Asahi has racked up losses of AUD 1.13 billion (USD 877 million) in Australia during six years after slashing the value of goodwill by AUD 1.19 billion. This must be seen as an unofficial admission that it paid too much for drinks companies Schweppes and Independent Liquor in addition to massively overvaluing the brands it took on.

Almost exactly two years after the Melbourne craft brewer Mountain Goat sold itself to Asahi, AB-InBev through its ZX Ventures arm, took over the Sydney brewer 4 Pines. The deal was announced on 22 September 2017.

Given that 17,000 craft beer consumers took part in the Beer Cartel’s consumer survey, craft beer’s popularity must be on the increase still.

AB-InBev-owned Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) has said it is aiming to meet the growing demands of consumers who want to moderate their drinking, by reducing the ABV in some of its mid and low-strength beers.