Carlsberg plays the dating game
They have been saying this for years. That they are seeking growth in Asia through acquisitions to offset sluggish business in Europe. But repeating this strategy over and over again does not make it any more real. Where are the acquisitions that could get Carlsberg out of its current fix?
The brewer wants to boost investment in China, Carlsberg CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen said on 14 February 2012.
Several market observers think that Carlsberg may go for China’s Kingway Brewery – in which Heineken sold its 21.4 percent stake In March 2011 for USD 170 million. AB-InBev, Tsingtao, and China Resources Snow Brewery may also bid.
China’s beer market will grow 6 percent to 7 percent annually over the next two to three years, Euromonitor forecasts. China Resources Enterprise, the maker of Snow beer with SABMiller, has a 22 percent share of China’s beer market; Tsingtao, part-owned by Asahi, has 14 percent; and AB-InBev has 12 percent, according to Euromonitor.
Carlsberg, the largest shareholder in Chongqing Brewery with about a 30 percent stake, sells Kronenbourg 1664 and Wusu among other beers in China. It has 1.5 percent of the country’s market, according to Euromonitor.
