Molson Coors (UK) and Cobra Beer announced on May, 29 the formation of Cobra Beer Partnership Ltd., a joint venture company that will own, produce and market the Cobra beer brand.

Cobra Beer Partnership Ltd will own the world rights to Cobra - with the exception of the Indian Sub-Continent area* – and will be managed by Molson Coors (UK), which holds a 50.1% share of the joint venture, securing the future of the Cobra brand and ensuring continuity of supply for customers and security of employment for some Cobra employees.

The JV will be chaired by Lord Karan Bilimoria, Cobra founder, with a board made up primarily of Molson Coors executives. Adrian Davey, formerly MD Molson Coors Off-trade, is appointed Managing Director of Cobra Beer Partnership Ltd.

Launched in 1989 by Lord Karan Bilimoria and positioned as an ‘exotic, less gassy beer’, Cobra has grown into a 200,000 barrel brand, distributed in more than 40 countries, and stocked by the majority of ethnic restaurants in the UK.

The rapid growth in popularity of Cobra, currently one of the UK’s fastest growing ‘world beer’ brands (+45% MAT to March 2009), drove an aggressive expansion plan over the past two years, but the business model ...More Info

MillerCoors, the second-largest brewer in the United States, sees beer sales growth slowing less rapidly in the downturn than wine and spirits, Reuters communicated on June, 2.

The brewer of Miller Lite and Coors Light expects the U.S. annual beer market growth to slow to 0.6 percent in 2009-2012 from 0.9 percent in 2004-2008, compared with a steeper fall in spirits growth to 1.1 percent from 2.7 percent.

MillerCoors President and Chief Commercial Officer Tom Long said the group's premium light beers Miller Lite, Coors Light and Miller Genuine Draft 64 had grown market share by 1 percent point over the last nine months, and its Blue Moon beer was now the leading craft beer in the U.S. market.

In addition, the group's two economy brands Miller High Life and Keystone Light were both gaining share as some consumers traded down to cheaper brands.

The grouping, which combines the U.S. operations of SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co with nearly 30 percent of U.S. beer sales, reiterated it expects to make $500 million of synergy savings by the third year of its joint operations.

Long added that any extra cost savings found above the $500 million level would be invested back into the business ...More Info

Danish brewing giant Carlsberg will try to reduce its substantial exposure to the volatile Russian beer market by further expanding in Asian markets, the Financial Times reported on June, 3.

"We do see Asia as being a place to expand and invest in," Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen, chief executive, said. He said that a stronger business in Asia - which today accounts for only 10 per cent of Carlsberg's sales volumes and 17 per cent of operating profits - would "balance" the company's exposure to Russia, which contributes about half of group profits.

The focus on Asia comes amid expectations of a slow economic recovery in Europe, with Mr Rasmussen forecasting that both 2009 and 2010 would remain "tough and very challenging".

He dismissed suggestions that Carlsberg's financial targets for 2009, including making a net profit of at least DKr3.5 bln ($672 mln), up from DKr2.6 bln last year, were not too bullish.

"The targets are challenging . . . but they're still feasible."

Carlsberg's shares have risen nearly 30 per cent since May 6, when it announced unexpectedly strong first-quarter earnings as it gained market share in Russia.

Still, the company's exposure to Russia, a country considered both politically and financially volatile, concerns investors, and Carlsberg ...More Info

Affinity Equity Partners Ltd., the Hong Kong-based buyout firm that manages about $4 billion, plans to buy a stake in KKR & Co.’s Oriental Brewery, two people with knowledge of the matter were quoted as saying by Bloomberg on June, 3.

Affinity may pay as much as $400 million to become the second-biggest shareholder of the Korean brewer, one of the people said, declining to be identified because talks are confidential. KKR, the private-equity firm run by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, agreed to buy Oriental Brewery for $1.8 billion from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV last month.

Buying a stake in South Korea’s second-biggest beer maker would mark Affinity’s fourth investment in an Asian consumer company and may be its biggest acquisition since being spun off from UBS AG’s regional private equity arm in 2004. Three of those investments are in South Korea, where consumer confidence rose to the highest in almost two years in May.

“Oriental Brewery would be a good investment over time once the economy really picks up, given its strong sales network,” said Cho Joon Hyuk, a Seoul-based fund manager at NH- CA Asset Management Co., which manages the equivalent of $1.2 billion in equities. “Investors will be ...More Info

Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries denied the possibility of an impending merger between its Indian operations and United Breweries, the Brewers’ Guardian reported on June, 1.

In a bid to reassure shareholders and end speculation that UB is set to swallow its Indian interests as part of a UB-Heineken peace deal, APB has publically dismissed the rumours about its fate on the sub-continent.

“APB wishes to clarify that the company has been in discussions with Heineken since Heineken's acquisition of Scottish and Newcastle [S&N], which has a stake in UB,” the firm said in a statement.

“There is neither an agreement nor any assurance that a definitive or binding agreement regarding APB's businesses in India will be entered into.”

A question mark has hung over the Tiger Beer brand-owner’s future in India after Heineken landed S&N’s 37.5% stake in United Breweries in its joint buyout of S&N with Carlsberg last April.

Following the deal, UB objected to Heineken gaining rights originally conferred to S&N. The presence of APB – a Singapore-based joint venture between Heineken and Fraser and Neave – presented another conflict for UB.

While UB has made public its discomfort at having a major shareholder with a large interest in a competitor, ...More Info

According to a study conducted by BusinessStat, Russia’s beer market reached its maximum volume in 2007, and 2009 will see the market shrink further following the trend that emerged last year, Alcnet.ru communicated on June, 2.

The rapid grow of beer sales in 2006 – 2007 was due to irregular supplies of strong alcoholic beverages caused by the introduction of Russia's Unified State Automated System of Alcohol Record (EGAIS). The volume of Russia’s beer market reached record 120 mln hl in 2007, but dropped in 2008 to 114 mln hl as supplies of vodka to the sales outlets became stable, the study claims.

In 2009, the nation’s beer market will continue to shrink, experts forecast. Part of the consumers are expected to switch from beer to strong liquors as the higher alcohol content of the latter allows to economise. According to BusinessStat projection, this year beer sales will amount to just 100.5 mln hl.

In the long term, Russia’s beer market is forecast to resume growth but the highest demand will be for low-alcohol and low-carbon beer.

Cobra Beer founder Karan Billimoria is planning to raise funds separately for investing in India to ramp up its business in the country, even as the firm entered into joint venture with UK-based brewing major, Molson Coors, the Economic Times posted on May, 31.

The 50.1: 49.9 joint venture (Cobra Beer Partnership Ltd) deal struck between the two firms on May, 29 had kept the Indian operations of Cobra beer out of the purview.

"Currently, I am working on raising money for the Indian business...the amount raised would be spent on completing the acquisitions of brewery in Bihar and promoting Cobra beer in the country," Cobra Beer founder and Chairman Karan Billimoria said.

He said Cobra’s Indian unit will raise funds from private individuals and private equity investors for taking forward the operations. “We will decide on the quantum of capital required for India in the next few weeks and start a fresh process almost from the scratch. We have the perpetual licensing rights for Cobra brand in India, which we can assign to anyone (if needed),” he added.

Asked about the company's plans in India, he said," Our immediate plan is to increase the brewing capacity in India to five million cases ...More Info

Brick Brewing Co. Ltd., Ontario's largest Canadian-owned and Canadian-based publicly held brewery, announced on June, 2 it has recently discovered that its founder, Mr. James R. Brickman, committed wrongs against the company for several years and caused the company significant damages.

As a result, the brewer’s Board of Directors instructed its legal counsel to commence legal proceedings in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Mr. Brickman to recover these damages. The company served papers on Mr. Brickman, beginning this lawsuit, on June, 2.

Mr. Brickman departed his role as Executive Chairman of Brick Brewing in December 2008 and resigned from the company's Board of Directors in February 2009.

The statement of claim in this lawsuit outlines Brick Brewing's allegations against Mr. Brickman and claims damages in excess of C$1 million.

"It is most unfortunate that this has come to light," noted George Croft, President & CEO. "The Board of Directors is very disappointed, but must act according to its duties and obligations, and pursue this matter on behalf of all Brick Brewing shareholders."

Jim Brickman, 56, said he is "very disappointed" by allegations levelled against him in a new lawsuit filed by the company, saying the claims sully his years of hard work building ...More Info

Danish brewer Royal Unibrew reported on June, 2 that the sale of its brewery in Koszalin, Poland, to the Polish brewery group Van Pur has finally been completed following approval by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.

Royal Unibrew first said it entered into sale agreement with Van Pur on March, 27 this year. The agreement stipulated the sale its Polish brewery facilities in Koszalin and the transfer of the employees to the buyer.

A further agreement has been entered into with Van Pur concerning the sale of Royal Unibrew’s Polish brands, which are mainly sold in the region of Koszalin, and certain assets connected to sales in the area, the Danish brewer said.

In total, the two transactions will yield proceeds of approx. DKK 35 million to Royal Unibrew.

The transactions will not change the previously communicated expectations to the Group’s results for 2009.

The sale of the brewery and activities in the Koszalin region is part of the announced strategic initiatives for Poland. The remaining restructuring initiatives will continue as planned, Royal Unibrew said.

ABB Grain Limited announced on June, 3 that it has received notice from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that the ACCC does not propose to intervene, pursuant to section 50 of the Trade Practices Act, in the proposed scheme of arrangement with Viterra Inc., announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on 19 May 2009.

The transaction remains subject to regulatory, shareholder and court approvals, as well as other conditions, ABB Grain said.

P. Gabriel, M. Dienstbier, D. Matoulkova, K. Kosar and K. Sigler

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 114(3), 270–276, 2008 The optimised acidification power test (APT) of brewer’s yeast quality includes storing the yeast slurry at 2°C under beer (AP remains constant for up to 6 days), a 15 min sample equilibration to room temperature, decantation, and washing by triple centrifugation in deionised water. The final yeast pellet keeps its AP for up to 6 h at room temperature under water and thus the APT does not need to be performed immediately after yeast collection. The correct AP value (maximum acidification produced by given yeast) is determined at 25 ± 0.1°C in a 15 mL sample containing >5% glucose and >1.5 g yeast wet weight. The cell concentration is conveniently measured as absorbance (A660). Cell flocculation and/or sedimentation that can distort APT results can be prevented by stirring the sample at >200 rpm. The AP of yeast of different generations used to pitch brewery fermentations in cylindroconical tanks had a very low correlation with the wort half-attenuation time (T1/2) due to large scatter, while each yeast generation separately showed a clear T 1/2 - AP relationship. The lowest AP of yeast cropped from cylindroconical tanks was displayed by the first cropped fraction. Post-cropping cooling had no effect on AP. Variations in pitching yeast vitality and their effect on the outcome of a brewery fermentation can be masked by variations in pitching rate, wort composition, ambient conditions in the cylindroconical tanks and other factors. Key words: Acidification power, brewery practice, optimised AP test, wort attenuation, yeast cropping, yeast quality. Load full article, 7 pages, 339 Kb, PDF file