Australia: Carlton & United Breweries can officially claim its status as Australia’s number one brewer

Carlton & United Breweries can officially claim its status as Australia’s number one brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev has declared, having taken control of the company on October 10.

AB InBev also sought to clarify that Jan Craps, Zone President Asia Pacific South, will have a dual role as Chief Executive Officer of CUB, its Australian business unit.

CUB’s newly appointed president Peter Filipovic is effectively second-in-command, with responsibility for commercial delivery of the division.

Filipovic is one of 13 business unit presidents comprising the Asia Pacific South Zone Management Committee – abbreviated by AB InBev to ‘Zone ManCom’.

All 13 of these executives report directly to Craps. The zone leadership team also includes ‘functional leaders’, most of whom are responsible for leading business functions across the entire zone.

Among their number is newly appointed VP Marketing Richard Oppy, whose role AB InBev said “will initially be focused on delivery for Australia and sharing best practice across the zone – this will be broadened to include full zone responsibility in time”.

Craps said the zone leadership team is made up almost equally of AB InBev and SABMiller colleagues.

“This diversity of background, nationality and experience from many different regions will deliver a truly ‘best of both’ approach and allow us to capitalise on the best practice implementation in our zone,” he said.

“In Australia our business will continue to be called Carlton & United Breweries and the name of our global company remains AB InBev.

“The decision to retain original company names in the business units speaks to our belief that the equity of the organisation is held in local corporate identities and the people in our local markets.”

Craps confirmed the addition of brands including Corona to CUB’s portfolio “will move the company immediately to the position of number one player in the market”.

“Melbourne is also now uniquely placed as the headquarters for our Asia Pacific South zone, meaning that this will be the location of the zone leadership team, and the heart of decision-making for the zone,” said Craps.

“I’d say to our customers and partners that while to a certain extent on day one things are business as usual, we look forward to using the resources and brands of the combined organisations to accelerate growth in the Australian market.”

13 October, 2016