Carlsberg’s man in Asia leaves
Oops – what can it possible mean that Carlsberg’s head of the brewer’s Asia division decided to leave all of a sudden? The world’s number four brewer announced on 24 April 2013 that Roy Bagattini, 49, is leaving to take a job at fashion group Levi Strauss & Company as Executive Vice President and President of Commercial Operations, Asia Pacific, in June 2013.
Mr Bagattini joined Carlsberg in 2009, having been poached from SABMiller, where he had worked for eighteen years in a variety of CEO and general management roles in Russia, China, India, Italy and the United States.
So it’s jeans now for Mr Bagattini and more of a worry for Carlsberg’s CEO Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen. The company seems to have been unaware of Mr Bagattini’s intended career move. That’s why Carlsberg’s CEO will take on Mr Bagattini’s responsibilities until a successor to Mr Bagattini has been found. Mr Rasmussen said that the new Asia chief would need commercial as well as M&A qualifications.
Mr Rasmussen insisted that Carlsberg would not lose focus on its expansion in the region.
Carlsberg, like all its rivals, is actively seeking acquisitions in the region. It is also working to increase earnings there.
As part of its drive for growth in the region, Carlsberg last month launched a partial takeover bid worth DKK 2.65 billion (USD 461.49 million) for 30.31 percent of the shares in Chongqing Brewery Company.
If successful, that will give Carlsberg control of the company and a stake of up to 60 percent.
In February the brewer said it was returning to Myanmar after the easing of international sanctions that forced it out of the country in the mid-1990s.
The Asia region accounted for 18 percent of Carlsberg’s total sales volume in 2011 and 12 percent of its operating profit.
Mr Rasmussen said that it is possible that growth in the Asian beer market could slow in the future, but he expects overall growth to continue, especially in the western part of the country, where Carlsberg’s operations are and where beer consumption lags that in the coastal regions.
