Anadolu Efes Biracilik ve Malt Sanayii A.S. (“Anadolu Efes”) and its 70% subsidiary Efes Breweries International N.V. (“EBI”), have successfully closed and signed September 14 a 3 year term US$500 million Term Loan Facility (the “Facility”), for which Citibank, N.A. (“Citibank”) and HSBC Bank plc (“HSBC”) (the “Mandated Lead Arrangers” and “Bookrunners”) have been jointly mandated to arrange, the company released September 14. The Facility will be used for general corporate purposes including the refinancing of existing indebtedness.

The Facility was well supported by the Group’s relationship banks and resulted in the transaction being 2.5 times over-subscribed. The Facility was not increased from its original launch level of US$500m.

“We are happy to have completed the process for the syndicated loan that has been arranged jointly by HSBC and Citibank. This facility is also an important one, since it represents a debut for Anadolu Efes” commented Ahmet Boyacıoglu, President of Efes Beer Group. “We are also delighted to see the significant interest from the banking sector to this Facility, which will contribute significantly to the growth of Efes Beer Group, especially in the international markets.”

The Ukrainian brewery Obolon has posted a beer output of 1.08 million hl in August 2006, 23% more year-on-year. Since January 2006, Obolon’s beer output hiked by 23.4% to 6.46 million hl, the company released September 13.

The company’s share in domestic beer output amounted for 33.2% in August 2006, in excess of 3% year-on-year. Obolon’s market share presently reaches 28.9%, 3.6% more year-on-year. In the same time, Obolon’s exports improved by nearly 12.1% in August 2006.

The company said the national beer market expanded by almost 15%. During this period of time, Obolon’s beer sales increased by 26.9% and its share in the domestic beer production reached 33.8%, 2.4% more year-on-year.

The company’s domestic market share added 2.9% reaching 28.3%. The brewer also pointed out that its beer shipments improved by 3.7% in the last eight months. As a result, Obolon’s share in Ukrainian beer exports totaled 81.1%.

Lesaffre Group has sold its shares in IMC - International Malting Company, to their partners ADM - Archer Daniels Midland, analysts reported September 01. The malting group with factories in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand has a total capacity of 800,000 t. The Lesaffre Group, after having closed its French malthouse at Lille, is now withdrawing completely from the malt business and will concentrate on its core business - yeast. The disappearance of Lesaffre from the malt sector is, of course, a consequence of the lack of profitability of the industry since a number of years.

Lesaffre is today one of the world leaders in the production of yeast and yeast extracts. The business activities of the Lesaffre Group have developed essentially around the culture of yeast and the experience gained in fermentation technology.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is a world leader in agricultural processing and fermentation technology. In addition, ADM produces value-added food and feed ingredients. Headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, ADM has over 26,000 employees, more than 240 processing plants and net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006 of US$36.6 billion.

Chinese barley imports in July were 122,000 t, in January/July 1.404 million t, of which 1.035 million t from Australia and 354,000 t from Canada. It still looks like total imports in 2006 will reach 2.4 million t, although international malting barley markets have risen to record high levels and supplies are limited, analyst estimated September 01.

CIF offers to China are called US $ 230.- to 240.-. Private estimates of the Chinese malting barley crop show figures around 2.5 million t, which would leave import needs of only 1.5 million t. However, theory and practice have never been the same in the Chinese malt market.

Strategie Grains published September 15 their latest estimates, continuing to revise lower the EU grain crops, the Home-Grown Cereals Authority accordingly released.

EU barley output is now predicted at 54.5 million t, down by 0.6 million t from August estimates but still 1.3 million t higher than last season. Those figures have been continually revised down since the beginning of the season due to the unfavourable conditions observed this year over Europe.