Victory - of sorts

That was quick. On 23 April Britain’s High Court ruled that the government had acted unfairly when Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers blocked Interbrew’s acquisition of Bass Brewers - a £2.3 bn (US$3.3 bn) acquisition which would have given Belgium’s Interbrew a leading 32% share of the British beer market. The judge backed the ruling in principle, but said that the procedure by which the conclusion was reached was unfair. Officially, Interbrew welcomed the decision of the High Court of Justice. After all, the world’s local brewer had taken the matter to court to demonstrate that it would not leave a ruling unchallenged which it considered unjust. Due to competition concerns, South African Breweries and venture capital groups had seemed to be the only potential candidates for Bass.

Spendrups to leave stock exchange

In May Spendrups brothers Jens and Ulf made an offer to shareholders to buy the remaining shares at a 36% premium. Spendrups Invest offered 42 kronor (US$4.11) in cash and a subordinated debenture with a face value of 7 kronor for each share in Spendrups AB. Spendrups is Sweden’s second largest brewing group employing more than a 1,000 people. Revenues from the beer business were 38% in 1999. In 1997 Spendrups’ share price was more than 70 kronor but has dropped since and languished in the doldrums. The lack of interest in Spendrups’ shares has made it impossible for the company to raise funds through the stock market. Therefore the brothers decided to buy back the company which was listed in the early 1980s. Before the offer, shares held by insiders were 36.3%.

Gothenburg brewery to close

Carlsberg Sweden, which was formed after the merger of brewers Falcon and Pripps, has started negotiations with trade unions to phase out production at the Gothenburg brewery (capacity 600,000 hl), a former Pripps brewery. Due to significant overcapacity in the industry, Carlsberg Sweden decided to close down one of its three breweries, which will leave it with breweries in Stockholm and Falkenberg only. The brewer hopes to complete negotiations by August at the latest so that production can be discontinued in April 2002. It is expected that 280 of Gothenburg’s 400 employees will lose their jobs. Of these 100 will be offered new jobs in Stockholm and Falkenberg.

Four-point election manifesto

In anticipation of the government’s plans to transfer responsibility for liquor licensing from magistrates to local authorities, Stuart Neame, Vice-Chairman of the Independent Family Brewers of Britain association, helped launch a four-point election manifesto. The proclamation calls upon all political parties for an 8p a pint tax reduction on beer, the retention of licensing control with magistrates, less red tape and help for cask ale. According to Kent brewer Neame, the number of brewers in the UK has fallen from 6,400 to 84 in the past 100 years.

Una birra, please

According to the British media, Scottish&Newcastle has cast desiring glances at Italy’s number 2 brewer Peroni in a takeover valued at £240m (US$341m). Both companies have already established ties. Last year, Scottish&Newcastle struck an agreement with Danone to buy its Kronenbourg beer business. When Peroni’s controlling families turned down the offer to buy back the 24% stake held by Danone, Scottish&Newcastle decided to make them an offer which they could not refuse.

Gothenburg brewery to close

Carlsberg Sweden, which was formed after the merger of brewers Falcon and Pripps, has started negotiations with trade unions to phase out production at the Gothenburg brewery (capacity 600,000 hl), a former Pripps brewery. Due to significant overcapacity in the industry, Carlsberg Sweden decided to close down one of its three breweries, which will leave it with breweries in Stockholm and Falkenberg only. The brewer hopes to complete negotiations by August at the latest so that production can be discontinued in April 2002. It is expected that 280 of Gothenburg’s 400 employees will lose their jobs. Of these 100 will be offered new jobs in Stockholm and Falkenberg.

Finalmente

The Spanish government has approved of Heineken’s proposed sale of two of its seven breweries and six brands to the Barcelona-based brewer Damm. Damm will take over the Madrid and Valencia breweries which have a combined capacity of 2.2m hl. The brands sold include Keler, Estrella del Sur, Victoria, Calatrava, Skol and Oro.
The sale of plants and brands had been the precondition for merging the El Aguila and Cruzcampo divisions. In 1999 Hein-eken acquired Cruzcampo from Diageo for more than €650m, attempting to merge it with brewer El Aguila. The merged company, Heineken Espana, would have had a share of 40% of the Spanish beer market - too much for the Spanish competition authorities. Rumour has it that in 1999 Damm was beaten by Heineken in the race for Cruzcampo..

BBH ups its beer sales by 43 %

The Scandinavian firm Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH) sold 18.29 million hl of beer in the former Soviet Union during 2000, 43.1 % more than in the preceding year. Sales totalled 14.34 million hl in Russia, 1.72 million hl in the Ukraine, and 1.99 million hl in the Baltic states. The company thus increased its market shares in Russia from 21.2% to 25.2%, and in the Ukraine from 14.4% to 16.9%. Its share in the Baltic states, by contrast, showed a slight decline. In the Ukraine, thanks to cooperation with PepsiCo, soft drinks production was upsized from 0.049 million hl to 0.24 million hl.
BBH produced 1.93 million hl of beer and other beverages overall in the Ukraine last year, a growth rate of 67 % compared with 50% in the preceding year.1% to €637 m.5%, and the Ukraine with 48%.8%.6%.

Rising sales for major breweries

The Slovaks are drinking more beer again. Following years of declining sales, output in 2000 from the country’s 13 largest breweries was 220,00 hl up on 1999’s level, at 4.52 million hl, a growth rate of 4.6 %. Beer exports rose by 1,000 hl to 117,000 hl (9.3%). The sales of small and medium-sized Slovakian breweries are not included in the above figures; there were further declines here.
Per capita consumption of beer in Slovakia, just under the 90-litre mark in 1999, a new low, is estimated to have again been approximately 90 litres in 2000. This is all the more remarkable in that beers with a low original gravity have been subject to higher taxes since the beginning of 2000 (230 SKK per hl instead of the previous 164 SKK). Heineken Slovensko’s success is particularly striking.s.s..

And another one

After months of deliberation, the Polish Ministry of the Interior has granted permission to Austrian brewer Brau Union to invest in Browary Warszawskie (BW), a Warsaw-based brewery. This decision will enable Brau Union to buy the BW shares which BW’s management bought from BW’s employees last year. Brau Union will take control of the brewery since it is purchasing almost 100% of the shares. The Austrian brewer is believed to have paid US$15.9m for BW. Brau Union also owns the Rzeszow-located Van Pur Brewery and the Bydgoszcz-located Kujawiak Brewery. It controls 6% of the Polish beer market and intends to produce 1.75m hl of beer this year.