Russia: OAO Zolotoy Ural brewery based in Chelyabinsk and Vena brewery based in St. Petersburg are to merge in one brewing company, under the decision of Baltic Beverages Holding AB (BBH)’s shareholders. The news was announced at a press conference in Chelyabinsk on August 5. The two companies have started the operational merge on July 1 2004 and are to perform the juridical merge by 2005. The joint company holds about 4.9% of the Russian beer market in terms of sales for the period March – April 2004.

Petr Chernyshev the general director of OAO Zolotoy Ural also announced that next year the united company is to brew under licence one of French beer brands. The beer will cost 33 RUB for a bottle of 0.33 l.

06 August, 2004