Radeberger will not buy Beck’s

Analysts have now placed their bets on a private equity buyer. Unlike any industry buyer, private equity would offer the additional benefit of leaving AB-InBev with the Beck’s brand. According to what has been leaked to the press, AB-InBev appears keen on keeping the Beck’s brand even if the rest of its German portfolio were sold.

Radeberger Group, the mineral water-to-beer group which is owned by Germany’s food conglomerate Oetker, claims to have a well-filled war chest even though in 2008 it only managed to increase its turnover with the help of an acquisition and higher prices. According to a statement by Radeberger Group on 15 January 2009, it managed to bring turnover up one percent despite declining beer volume sales.

Thanks to having bought the beverage wholesaler Getränke Essmann (Lingen) in early 2008, Radeberger upped its turnover 30 percent to EUR 1.6 billion. Excluding Getränke Essmann, turnover was up one percent, while beer sales dropped 1.5 percent to 13.5 million hl, Radeberger said. Its domestic market share has remained stable at 15 percent.

Radeberger Group, which has 15 breweries in Germany and sits on a portfolio of more than 40 beer brands, saw the sales of its flagship brand Radeberger go up 7 percent in money terms and 3 percent in volume terms. Sales of its wheat beer brand Schöfferhofer were up 17 percent in money terms and 9 percent in volume terms.

Like other brewers in Germany, Radeberger registered declining beer sales in the on-trade sector to the order of 8 percent year-on-year following the introduction of anti-smoking legislation and the deepening economic crisis.