Romania: Heineken Romania sells mineral water division to focus on core beer business

Heineken Romania announced it had sold its mineral water division in order to focus on its core beer business, Curierul National reported on May, 12.

"Our core business is beer production. In Romania, we will continue to focus on producing quality beer brands. The announcement made today on the sale of the mineral water division is consistent with our business strategy," said the General Manager of Heineken Romania, Jan Derck van Karnebeek.

In 2008, Heineken Romania acquired the Bere Mureş company, owner of a brewery in Ungheni, Mureş and a mineral water factory in the locality of Băcâia, Hunedoara.

The company produced the beer brands Neumarkt, Dracula and Sovata and two mineral water brands.

Bere Mureş's legal integration in Heineken Romania was finalised in April this year. Thus, following the merger finalisation, the company decided to sell Beer Mureş's mineral water division to a local businessman for an undisclosed price. The transaction was intermediated by KBC Securities.

Heineken Romania is one of the main producers on the local beer market, with a market share of 29% (according to an AC Nielsen study from 2008). The company portfolio includes the brands: Heineken, Ciuc Premium, Golden Brau, Neumarkt, Bucegi, Gösser, Schlossgold, Silva, Gambrinus, Harghita, Haţegana and import brands Zipfer and Edelweiss.

The company has five breweries in Constanţa, Craiova, Haţeg, Miercurea Ciuc and Târgu Mureş.

13 May, 2009