Closing a chapter
Slovenia may pride itself for sitting on the sunny side of the Alps. However, for InBev this market has always been overshadowed by dark clouds. That’s why the ‘world’s premier brewer’ decided that it was better to beat a hasty retreat than to weather the storm that has been brewing in Slovenia ever since Interbrew entered the southern European market in 2001. In February, InBev announced the sale of its holding (41.32%) in Pivovarna Union (‘Union’) to Pivovarna Lasko (‘Lasko’) for a cash consideration of EUR 70.7 million.
InBev’s failure to secure control of the country’s number two brewer, Union, has since become a text book case of a botched Europeanisation process. The culprits are easy to make out: the Slovenian government and competition authorities..
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