Have I got news for you

The past few months have been a great time for rumour mongers. Shortly before Christmas documents leaked to the "Financial Times" indicated that Interbrew was to launch a £4 billion bid for South African Breweries (SAB). Such a deal would have created the second largest brewer in the world, only marginally smaller than Anheuser-Busch by volume.
After a few days of phone lines hotting up, Interbrew’s CEO Hugo Powell had to apologise to SAB’s CEO Graham Mackay for these allegations because there was no substance to them. Powell admitted that research on SAB had been carried out in the course of routine analysis but that there were no firm plans to make an all-stock offer for SAB.
In January, these rumours gained momentum with SAB dropping broad hints about such a merger..

BBH acquires another brewery in Russia

In January, Baltic Beverages Holding AB (BBH) has signed an agreement with the principal shareholders in Voronezh Brewery to acquire 70% of the shares through a directed issue. With this acquisition, BBH’s beer market share will increase to about 32% and its number of breweries to eight according to a company statement.
Voronezh Brewery is situated in the town of Voronezh in southern Russia, some 500 kilometres south of Moscow. The brewery has an annual capacity of 730,000 hl of beer and it is the leading brewery in the region. The acquisition further strengthens BBH’s position in the principal population centres in Russia and improves the logistic structure.
The acquisition is contingent upon approval of the Russian competition authorities. Orkla owns 40% of Carlsberg Breweries..

US$25 m invested in new maltings

Litmalt, Lithuania’s only malting company, is to build a new malting plant. The plant will be designed by Finnish experts and should be completed in early 2004. The new plant will give Litmalt, which is owned by Finland’s Polttimo Companies and the Lithuanian brewer Utenos Alus, a capacity of 50,000 t to 70,000 t per year. This would meet the demands of the Lithuanian brewers, sources in Lithuania said. Litmalt produced 13 200 t of malt in 2001. In 2000 Lithuania’s brewers produced 2.1m hl of beer.

Finalmente - it’s ours

Carlsberg Breweries A/S has acquired the remaining 25 per cent of Carlsberg Italia S.p.A., which now gives Carlsberg Breweries a 100 per cent ownership of Carlsberg Italia.
As early as 1982, Carlsberg had bought 50 per cent of the share capital and in 1975 increased its share to 75 per cent. The year 2000 net turnover of Carlsberg Italia was approx. DKK 1.7 billion (€229m).
The company has a total of 800 employees and operates two breweries, one in Varese north of Milan and one in Ceccano outside of Rome.
That Carlsberg entered the Italian market in the first place was a natural consequence of many years of co-operation with the Italian brewer Poretti as concerns the import and the licensed production of the Carlsberg brands.8 million hl out of which beer counted for 1..

Ban on cans lifted

There is a famous quotation in Shakespeare’s drama Hamlet, which includes the words "rotten" and "Denmark" and something to this effect the European Commission must have thought when it started legal action against Denmark 20 years ago to force the government to legalise the use of cans. Denmark was the only EU country which had banned the use of aluminium cans for ecological reasons. Beverages were sold in glass and plastic bottles only, with refillable glass bottles for beer accounting for 92%. The ban was lifted in January and retailers were asked to charge a deposit of US$0.18 per can. This was to ensure that consumers return the cans to the shops.
No one expects the beer market to change dramatically as a consequence of this. In 2000, beer consumption was 5.4 m hl..

New structure

n January, the Board of Directors of Interbrew approved a three-year Long Range Plan which includes several organisational measures. They include the re-introduction of the position of the Chief Operating Officer (COO). The COO will be responsible for the international operations of Interbrew. The Board has appointed Jerry Fowden, 45, a British citizen, and formerly COO of Bass Brewers.
As of January, Interbrew will be managed via a Corporate Committee and an Operating Committee. The Corporate Committee is headed by the CEO Hugo Powell who reports to the Board.
An Operating Committee is created, chaired by the COO, which will manage all operational aspects of the different regions in which Interbrew is active. Dieter Ammer is to report to the COO..

Ad nauseam

How does the saying go? "What you see is what you get." Right. No, you don’t get desire in a bottle - just Löwenbräu beer. But it is imported. So watch out.

Prohibitionists let loose

The Ukrainian government has banned alcohol and tobacco advertising on TV and radio, in print media and on billboards, legitimating the decision with the claim that alcohol and tobacco advertising were contributing to the poor health of the nation.

Tulskoye Pivo increases production 33%

Tulskoye Pivo, a subsidiary of the St. Petersburg based Baltika Brewery, increased beer production 33% year-on-year from January to July 2001 to 2.01 million hl. According to company sources, this increase brought up Tulskoye Pivo’s share of the Russian beer market from 2.7% in 2000 to 5.3%.

Alcohol rate cut proposed

Seems like the government is finally seeing sense. After years of futile attempts at clamping down on illegal cross border trade in booze, the Norwegian government has proposed plans to cut taxes on alcohol. These plans provide for a 15 percent reduction of duty on spirits and a 5 percent tax break on wine and beer.