Belgian beer multinational Interbrew has long prioritised China as a critical beer market and in the past year has expanded rapidly via acquisitions in key provinces see related articles.
Late Friday night it made its boldest acquisition to date, in a move that sees Interbrew almost double its brewing capacity from 12 million hectalitres to 22.6 million hectalitres. The acquisition catapults Interbrew to joint-third in China by volume with Yanjing.
Interbrew is buying the profitable beer assets of Lion Diviersified Holdings, a Malaysian conglomerate 50% owned by William Cheng. The deal will initially be structured as a JV, with the Belgian company paying $131.5 million for 50%. However, after...
