It’s been all over town that if Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) wanted to re-enter the Australian beer scene, it was only through a partnership with the newly opened Casella brewery. Lo and behold, in August 2012 the beverage giant CCA and the beer industry newcomer announced that they have set up a joint venture.

Media called him the "Lion King", probably for his proven staying power at the helm of Australia’s brewer and dairy company Lion. But in February 2012 Kirin-owned Lion said that its CEO Rob Murray, 51, would step down next year after eight years spent running the consumer goods giant.

The struggle for supremacy

The U.S. economy is in a funk and the euro zone is about to implode while the rest of the rich world is nursing a hang-over from the recent credit boom. All this is accelerating the shift of economic power eastwards. If China can avoid a blow-up in the next decade, it is likely to become the world’s biggest economy by 2018 or 2019, experts say. That should give a boost to the beer industry in the Asia-Pacific region, which at 658 million hl output in 2010 is already the world’s largest. Even if the rapid growth in beer consumption continues for a while, the big question for global brewers is: when will Asia’s low profits per hl finally catch up with its emerging markets’ peers?

The dark side of the family

For those who have not heard it yet, this year is the 150th anniversary of the founding of Coopers Brewery by Thomas Cooper. That in itself would be a remarkable feat of achievement, were it not topped by the fact that Coopers is still family-run and family-owned. In our time and age when brewers are gobbled up by the big corporates right, left and centre, Coopers has managed to defend its independence tooth and nail while raising its popularity among Australia’s consumers.

In Amsterdam they will be scratching their heads. Only days after Heineken’s takeover offer for Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), Kindest Place, a company controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s son-in-law, raised the stakes on 6 August 2012 by offering to buy the 7.3 percent of APB owned directly by Fraser & Neave (as opposed to shares owned in the joint venture with Heineken).

It was to be expected. With the loss of some licensed brands like Stella Artois and Carlsberg, Foster’s owner SABMiller took a long hard look at its production site at Abbotsford near Melbourne and decided to shut down one of its seven production lines by October this year. This will lead to loss of 33 jobs, hopefully through voluntary redundancies.

Phew – no bidding war. After only two weeks of deliberations, on 3 August 2012 Fraser & Neave’s board of directors recommended Heineken’s USD 4.1 billion offer for its 40 percent stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) to shareholders, the Amsterdam-based brewer said in a statement. Heineken already owns a 42 percent stake in APB.

Heineken’s USD 4.1 billion offer to buy Singapore’s Fraser & Neave (F&N) out of the Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) joint venture altogether may have been fired from the hip, but what could they do?

Indian beer producers could not have asked for more: Amidst the global economic doom and gloom and a slowing Indian economy, when the talk of a grimmer economic situation was pervasive around the country, an extended and unusual Indian summer has helped the Indian beer producers to achieve one of the highest sales during the peak beer consuming months (March – June) in India.

Casella Wines, the family-owned winery whose Yellow Tail wine label rose from scratch to become the most popular imported wine in the U.S. in almost no time, has moved into beer with the mid-June launch of two beers: Arvo 34 and Arvo 51.