SABMiller and Grupo Petropolis agree on distribution arrangement
It was not quite as brief as a twitter tweet but it must have been one of the shortest of press releases imaginable: all it said was that SABMiller, the second largest brewer in the world, and Grupo Petropolis, the second largest brewer in Brazil, on 1 October 2014 announced an agreement to jointly explore the distribution of select SABMiller brands in the Brazilian market in the coming years.
The news content was basically zilch when it comes to hard facts: or did they say which brands? Or when the distribution agreement would begin?
Why would they feel the need to issue such non-news? Incidentally, SABMiller did not publish the press release on its website.
SABMiller is not actively involved in the Brazilian beer market. Petropolis recently became Brazil’s second largest brewer behind AmBev, having overtaken the former Schincariol, which was bought by Japan’s Kirin in 2011. Petropolis is owned by Walter Faria, whose fortune Forbes magazine put at USD 4.6 billion.
According to Nielsen, AmBev is the beer market leader with a 67 percent share, followed by Petropolis with a 12.4 percent share. Brazil Kirin ranks third with a 9.9 percent market share and Heineken with 8.8 percent.
