InBev buys Fujian Sedrin brewery

In January 2006 InBev announced that it has reached agreement with various parties to acquire, in a series of transactions, 100 percent of the equity interests in Fujian Sedrin Brewery Co. Ltd. (“Fujian Sedrin”), the largest brewer in Fujian province, for a total cash consideration of EUR 614 million. In a statement InBev says that “Fujian Sedrin is one of the most profitable Chinese brewers and in recent years has achieved an EBITDA margin in excess of 30 percent. The Sedrin® brand will be one of InBev’s top five selling brands globally by volume with significant potential for growth and expansion.”

It’s over – for the time being

In December 2005, Coopers’ shareholders voted overwhelmingly to remove Lion Nathan’s pre-emptive right to buy shares in the company, thus effectively barring Lion Nathan from its door. Nevertheless, Lion Nathan has announced since that it would extend its AUD 420 million (USD 317 million) hostile takeover offer for Coopers Brewery until 20 March 2006.

Tidying up

SABMiller has bought some USD 468.6 million worth of shares it did not own already, in Peru’s biggest beverage maker, Backus y Johnston. SABMiller already owns a 79.7 percent stake in Backus as a result of its purchase of South America’s second-biggest brewer, Bavaria SA, earlier this year.

Change the tax!

Kirin Brewery, Japan’s number two brewer, reported a 3.4 percent rise in third quarter group operating profit on strong sales of beer-like drinks, and kept its 0.6 percent growth forecast for the year. Apparently Kirin benefited from the introduction of a so-called “third-type” beer, Nodogoshi Nama, into the growing lower-priced segment, of which it now controls about 35 percent, say media reports. The product, along with the company’s popular low-malt “happoshu” brews, boosted Kirin’s sales in the July-September summer quarter by 5 percent, while Japan’s overall beer market dwindled by about 1.5 percent, Kirin said.

There will be tears

One of the first expressions a foreigner will learn in China is “chi ku”, or “eat bitterness” because the Chinese take great pride in their ability to endure hardship. Perhaps some foreign brewers will be forced to eat bitterness too given the recent scramble over the Fudjian Sedrin Brewery which might end in tears for some. Last year, SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch slugged it out over Harbin Brewery and in the end SABMiller was crying all the way to the bank just having sold its shares in Harbin to Anheuser-Busch at a premium. Whether Anheuser-Busch ate bitterness over the deal – who knows? ...

Lipservice

Whether they really mean it or whether they are just staking their claims – in any case, Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) has announced that they are going to make a major push into the highly challenging market of Belarus, one of Europe’s fringe states, which has fallen foul with the European Union and the United Nations for being one of the “last dictatorships in Europe” according to U.S. President George W Bush. Recently, tensions have begun to mount between Belarus and its neighbour Poland over the treatment of Belarus’ sizeable Polish minority. Around 400,000 ethnic Poles out of a population of 10.2 million live in Belarus, in areas that formed part of Poland until World War II.

For she’s a jolly good fellow

Margaret Harvey, wife of John Harvey, has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling – the first person to be thus honoured since the IBD introduced this new title earlier this year. She was very surprised, overwhelmed but also proud when Dr Tim Cooper presented her with the certificate at a regional IBD meeting in Adelaide. The award is in recognition of her significant input during her husband’s many decades of work as Asia Pacific Section secretary of the IBD

Happy go lucky

Beer and wine company The Foster’s Group reported that it was on target to reach its 2006 full-year earnings guidance as first quarter performance had proceeded according to plan. The group expects cost savings of AUD 40 to 50 million (EUR 25 – 30 million) in fiscal 2006, rising to AUD 145 million in 2008, from its AUD 3.2 billion takeover of Australian wine company Southcorp earlier this year.

Tut tut

Models have bad hair days, at Lion Nathan, however, they must have had a bad hair week following the publication of the company’s annual results. On the New Zealand stock exchange, Lion Nathan’s shares fell sharply at the beginning of November after the Australasian brewer booked an annual net profit of AUD 224.8 million (EUR 140 million) for the fiscal year 2004/05, up 10.9 percent on the previous year, but signalled its New Zealand operations are weak. Australian investment bank Macquarie immediately downgraded Lion Nathan to “underperform”. In a report Macquarie said that the results were in line but that the lower earnings growth outlook was disappointing. In effect, the stock looked expensive on a “price for growth ratio.797 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) being lower than in 2004 (AUD 2..

Orange opposition

You would not have thought that Buddhist monks would take an active interest in such mundane matters as the flotation of shares on the Thai stock exchange. Yet, following strong opposition from protesters clad in orange, the Stock Exchange of Thailand has postponed its decision to allow Thai Beverages, the country’s largest beer producer, to list on the market. The controversial listing, which has already been postponed several times, was going to raise some USD 950 million (EUR 797 million) for the company which brews market leader Chang Beer, Mekhong rum, Saeng Som and Hong Thong whiskies. A final decision on the listing, which would have been the largest by value in Thailand’s history, is now expected before the end of the year.