The financing package backing CVC's bid for Anheuser-Busch InBev's central and eastern European assets is complete but hangs in the balance as AB InBev weighs its options, Reuters cited banking sources on August, 18.

Ten to 12 banks provided an all-senior financing with no junior debt to back CVC Capital Partners' bid at the end of July, a leveraged banker said.

According to several bankers, CVC's bid failed to meet AB InBev's price expectations and the Belgian brewing giant is considering options which include splitting up the central and eastern European assets.

"The financing package is all wrapped and has been for some time. We are expecting a decision imminently, either this week or early next week," the leveraged banker said.

CVC could not immediately be reached for comment.

Offers were expected to come in at around 1.4 billion euros ($2 billion), while AB InBev was seeking around 2 billion euros, according to one person familiar with the situation, Reuters reported last month.

Bankers said the financing package which consisted of around 700 million euros of debt and 700 million euros of equity could be boosted by a vendor loan from AB InBev to ease the sale.

Vendor loans from sellers to buyers defer some of the ...More Info

Molson Coors Brewing Co will work to cut costs and lure consumers with promotional packages during the rest of this year, as forecasting sales trends remains difficult, Chief Executive Peter Swinburn was quoted as saying by Reuters on August, 18.

The maker of Coors Light and Molson Canadian beers does not give earnings forecasts, and the chief executive said it is hard to guess what will happen with overall volumes for the rest of the year.

"At the moment there doesn't seem to be any reason to have undue concern about the second half, but you see the unemployment figures," Swinburn said. "You see what's happening in the economy."

Swinburn said Molson is working to be "more agile" in terms of offering promotional or value packages, as recession-weary consumers look for deals. He did not discuss specific prices.

The company is maintaining its "cautious stance" and is focused on controlling costs, Swinburn said.

Based on current exchange rates, Molson expects foreign exchange translation to hurt earnings slightly in the current third quarter and help earnings in the fourth quarter, Swinburn said.

Molson reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings earlier this month.

The High Court in London has granted SABMiller an injunction which stops East African Breweries (EABL), a subsidiary of Diageo plc, from purchasing Tanzanian brewer Serengeti Breweries Ltd, SABMiller reported on August, 18.

EABL has attempted to terminate the brewing and distribution agreement between EABL and SABMiller-owned Tanzanian Breweries Ltd (TBL) on 17 July and to purchase the competitor Serengeti Breweries (SBL).

Justice Christopher Clarke in London ruled that a Diageo unit can’t buy Serengeti Breweries Ltd. until 2011 or the resolution of a related arbitration.

TBL continues to be the sole and exclusive brewer and distributor of EABL brands in Tanzania, the court said.

SBL is Tanzania's second biggest brewer after TBL and is owned by a group of private investors.

As part of a deal dating back to 2002, EABL owns a 20 percent stake in TBL and TBL owns a 20 percent stake in EABL's Kenya Breweries unit.

A spokesman for SABMiller welcomed the ruling, adding that regardless of the outcome of arbitration EABL would be prevented from acquiring SBL until January 2011.

However, a spokeswoman for Diageo said the judgement had effectively 'maintained the status quo' as both parties had already agreed to go to arbitration.

'We've always said that our ...More Info

Beer sales across West Europe fell by more than 4% in the first half of 2009 – the equivalent of 580 million litres, leading beverage research agency Canadean’s Quarterly Beverage Tracker informs.

According to experts, beer sales have been hit hard as consumers across the region tighten their purse strings by shunning bars, pubs and restaurants. ‘Cocooning’ a term not used since the downturn of the early 1990’s has been resurrected to describe the trend for drinkers to stay at home to entertain family and friends rather than eat out or go to a bar to socialise.

In some markets smoking bans and increased duty have contributed to amplify the level of abstinence. Nowhere is this best illustrated than the Netherlands where an excise duty increase and a smoking ban in cafés has triggered a considerable 9% decline in beer sales in the first half of 2009.

Beer in particular has been unable to capitalise on any switch from on to off premise; people drink less beer when they do not go out so regularly, analysts claim.

The third quarter is the most influential on commercial beverage sales and the performance in July, August and September will dictate the overall performance of the year. ...More Info

Romania’s beer sales were hit by a 14% decline in the first half compared to the year-ago period, Ziarul Financiar cited data from the National Statistics Institute (INS) on August, 17.

Brewers confirm there was a sales decline, but announce an up to 10% drop.

"The difference between the INS data and the figures reported by players is partly accounted for by the fact that the INS measures production, while the brewers’ reports take into account products available in stores, as well as on the on-premise segment (hotels, restaurants, coffee shops)," explains Stephan Maria Weber, president of the Brewers of Romania Association, and of Ursus Breweries, one of the largest beer producers on the Romanian market.

Even considering an up to 10% decline, from ten million hectolitres in the first half of 2008, beer sales barely approached nine million hectolitres at the end of June this year, close to the 2006 level.

"The factors that triggered a market decline are largely crisis-related. This has altered consumer behaviour – confidence in the purchasing power has weakened, prompting people to consume lower amounts and less frequently," says the president of the Brewers of Romania Association.

According to Weber, the unemployment rate rose in the first half ...More Info

Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (ThaiBev) announced its first half 2009 results on August, 14.

The company’s beer business reported a TBH560 mln net loss for the first half of 2009 (from a TBH879 net profit registered for the first half of 2008).

Over the reporting period, ThaiBev’s beer sales volume declined to 3.17 mln hl (from 4.31 mln hl a year earlier).

Sales revenue of the company’s beer business amounted to THB15.925 bln (THB21.272 bln in H1 2008). EBITDA declined to THB443 mln from TBH2.424 bln last year. EBITDA margin constituted just 2.8% (11.4% a year ago).

Chang beer has continued to see sales growth in Europe, Australia and the USA as it is a relatively new entry. In the US especially, as total imports of beer decline, Chang sales have risen approximately 60%, ThaiBev said.

As more people have chosen to remain at home, the proportion of Chang sold off premise has started to outweigh the proportion sold on-premise. In the UK and US, this has led to more emphasis on sales to supermarkets and chains.

The company’s beer segment sales accounted for 23.9% of its total sales volume in the first six months of this year.

The case brought last year by Mexico’s Grupo Modelo against Anheuser-Busch will be heard in New York this month, AB InBev communicated in its H1 results statement on August, 13.

The Mexican maker of Corona beer is seeking $2.5 billion in an arbitration case against Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch in connection with the U.S. brewer's acquisition by the Belgian InBev NV last year.

Modelo claimed it was not consulted about InBev’s takeover of Anheuser, which owned 50 percent of Modelo.

The Mexican brewer, which did not disclose what it sought when the arbitration case was filed, is also seeking to stop Anheuser-Busch entities from exercising certain governance and other contractual rights provided to them under the 1993 investment agreement, Anheuser-Busch InBev said.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, said the claims were without merit because there is no change of control clause in the Modelo investment agreement and no sale or transfer of the shares of Grupo Modelo held by Anheuser-Busch International Holdings took place when the InBev deal occurred.

Malting barley quality and yields have been excellent across most of the UK, Gleadell Agriculture sales director Stuart Shand was quoted as saying by Farmers Weekly Interactive on August, 17.

Spring barley harvest ranged from 65% complete in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, to 80% finished in the South East and East Anglia, Mr. Shand said.

“Apart from the South West, the spring barleys are of good colour, low protein and are yielding very well. The first barleys in the Borders are also very good.”

Quench had averaged 1.64% nitrogen, with Tipple at 1.56% and Optic at 1.55%, he said. All had good screenings, above 92% retained.

Winter barley harvest was all but complete, with very good quality and above average yields, he added.

“We have seen very little protein above 11.5%, while colour and grain size is excellent.”

Cassata averaged 1.58% nitrogen, with Flagon at 1.61% and Pearl averaging 1.67%. Screenings, again, were good at over 92% retained.

“Overall, on paper, there will be a surplus of approximately 300,000 tonnes, although a lot has already had to be moved for feed due to no malting home being available,” said Mr Shand.

“Lack of homes and no premium for winter malting barley is leading to growers switching ...More Info

Both malting and feed barley prices are continuously forced lower by a ‘plugged barley pipeline’, Randy Brag of Valley Grain Services in Casselton, North Dakota, was quoted as saying by Farm & Ranch Guide on August, 14.

“We are at a point right now that growers may not be able to sell any old crop malting barley on a spot basis due to the fact that the pipeline is full and it's going to take some time to get things cleared out again,” Brag said. “What we are hearing now is ‘no bid' for malting barley and the pipeline might not start to get cleaned where they will be bidding for barley until after the first of the year, possibly.”

Those who have malting barley contracts with the maltsters have been told they will need to store the barley on their farm, since it won't be possible to deliver at harvest time, he said.

“You can't really blame the malting industry for putting a no bid out, since they have commitments from last year that they need to take care of,” he said. “However, it really puts a crimp on the open market. That's just something that can happen when you have a ...More Info

According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service data, the export of Russian barley totalled 437 thousand tons in July 2009, Zerno Online reported on August, 18.

Malting barley accounted for just 31 thousand tons of the total amount.

Russia’s barley export in the first month of the last season was 166 thousand tons, whereas in the first month of the 2007/08 marketing year the country’s barley export totalled 140 thousand tons.

Hop production in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington is forecast at 80.9 million pounds for 2009, up slightly from last year’s 80.6 million pounds and 34 percent more than 2007, US National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA) reported earlier this month.

Area strung for harvest, at 40,177 acres, is down 2 percent from 2008. Yield is estimated at 2,013 pounds per acre for the Pacific Northwest, 42 pounds more than 2008, USDA said.

Washington’s yield is forecast at 2,100 pounds per acre for the 2009 crop, 28 pounds more than last year. Oregon’s yield is forecast at 1,770 pounds per acre, up 201 pounds from 2008. In Idaho, yields are forecast to average 1,740 pounds per acre, 101 pounds lower than a year ago. ...More Info

S. Tejinder

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 113(2), 219–227, 2007 The effect of a high temperature–high humidity treatment (HTHHT) of germinated unkilned barley on malt quality and extract characteristics was studied. Two samples of six-row barley were steeped to 42% moisture and germinated, with and without gibberellic acid, at 15°C for 5 days. The germinated barley was placed in a high humidity (75–80%) atmosphere maintained at 45, 55, and 65°C, respectively. For each temperature, treatments were carried out for 30, 60 and 90 min, respectively. At 45°C for 30–60 min, the malts developed high diastatic power and proteolytic activity. The high values for cold water extract and reducing sugars in the extracts indicated extensive amylolysis of starch granules during HT-HHT of the germinated barley at 55– 65°C. The worts were light in colour, with a pH of 5.3–5.8 and titratable acidity was in the range of 0.09–0.23%. A consistent increase in soluble nitrogen and Kolbach index was observed in the malts treated at 45–55°C for 30–90 min. Free -amino nitrogen of the malts was in the desirable range of 120–150 mg L–1. Therefore, HT-HHT can be useful for improving malt modifica tion and wort characteristics and to shorten the germination time for malts from poor quality barley. Key words: Extract analysis, germinated unkilned barley, high temperature–high humidity treatment, Kolbach index, malt. Load full article, 9 pages, 620 kb , PDF file