Japan & Singapore & Thailand: Kirin decides to sell its entire holdings in F&N to TCC Assets Ltd

Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings Co Ltd said on February, 1 it plans to sell its entire holdings in Fraser and Neave Ltd (F&N) to TCC Assets Ltd, giving the group led by Thailand's third-richest man nearly 69 percent of the Singapore drinks and real estate group.

Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who already owns a 54 percent stake in F&N via controlling TCC and Thai Beverage PCL , is set to take over the Singapore conglomerate after winning a two-month bidding war with an Indonesian group.

"With the recent major change in F&N's ownership structure, weighed heavily to TCC, Kirin has determined that it would be difficult to implement its integrated beverages strategy in Southeast Asia with F&N as Kirin's core partner, and accordingly has decided to sell Kirin's shares in F&N," it said in a statement.

The maker of Ichiban Shibori beer and the Japanese distributor of Anheuser-Busch InBev's Budweiser and Heineken also said it will pursue growth via its existing assets in Thailand and Vietnam, while seeking new opportunities with other partners.

Kirin expects to receive a pretax profit of about 47 billion yen ($515 million) from the deal. A company spokeswoman said the firm has not decided how it will use the money.

($1 = 91.2600 Japanese yen)

01 February, 2013