World’s leading brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev and CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) announced on December, 2 that they have completed the sale of AB InBev’s Central European operations, as previously communicated on 15 October, to funds advised by CVC (“CVC Funds”) for an enterprise value of approximately USD 2.2 billion and additional rights to a future payment estimated to be as much as USD 800 million contingent on the CVC Funds’ return on their initial investment.

Included in the sale are AB InBev’s operations, to be renamed StarBev, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

As part of the agreement, StarBev will continue to brew Stella Artois, Beck’s, Löwenbräu and Spaten and distribute Hoegaarden and Leffe in the above countries under license from AB InBev.

AB InBev will also continue to brew Staropramen in Russia and Ukraine and to distribute it in several other countries including the US, Germany and the UK.

Barclays Capital and Lazard acted as financial advisors to AB InBev and Clifford Chance acted as legal advisor. Freshfields acted as legal counsel to CVC.

Chilean brewer Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA (CCU) reported on November, 26 its consolidated financial results, stated for the first time under IFRS, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009.

“We are pleased with CCU’s third quarter results which are better than last year, despite the relentless consumption slow down coupled with an average weaker Chilean peso as compared to 2008, both being significant variables for our business,” the company’s management said.

CCU’s Q3 2009 total net sales increased 7.8%, to Ch$173,560 million, as a result of 3.3% higher consolidated volumes (of which 1.8 percentage points are due to organic growth) and 7.5% higher average prices in nominal Chilean pesos. The growth in the company’s Beer Argentina segment (0.1%) was partially offset by lower volumes in Beer Chile (- 4.7%). The higher average price in the segments is explained by the price actions taken since August 2008.

The company’s year-to-date (YTD) net sales increased 14.3% amounting to Ch$544,982 million.

Q3 2009 EBITDA increased 17.8%, to Ch$37,524 million, and the consolidated EBITDA margin improved 1.8 percentage points, reaching 21.6%.

YTD EBITDA increased 13.7% to Ch$125,573 million and the EBITDA margin reached 23.0%, decreasing 0.2 percentage points when compared to last year.

Net profit for the third quarter attributable to ...More Info

Asahi Breweries, Ltd. aims to increase its sales to ¥2–2.5 trillion by 2015, according to the company’s Long-Term Vision plan unveiled on December, 1.

In addition to stably growing existing businesses, the company said it will expand investment in domestic and overseas operations and will strive for increasing overseas operations’ share of total sales to 20–30%.

Asahi also said it aims to increase its EBITDA margin to 12% or more by pursuing improved profitability in existing businesses, mainly the Domestic Alcoholic Beverages Business. The Group is also targeting an EBITDA margin of 10% or more on new business investments.

According to Asahi’s Medium-Term Business Plan 2012, it intends to improve its domestic market position by intensively allocating resources to strengthening its brands in the beer and new-genre categories as a top priority, focusing particularly on its core brands, Asahi Super Dry and Clear Asahi.

In China, the Group’s existing beer business aims to early achieve profitability. It intends to do so by partnering with Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd., (e.g., joint procurement, reciprocal outsourcing of production) to improve profitability. Additionally, the Group aims to increase its income from equity-method affiliates by comprehensively supporting Tsingtao Brewery’s growth.

Elsewhere, the Group aims to expand Asahi Super Dry’s presence ...More Info

Dutch brewer Heineken NV expects a quarter of the beer market to consolidate and 'will participate' in that process, its chief executive was quoted as saying by the Telegraaf on November, 30.

CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said he expected a quarter of the global beer market will be bought up by the world's top four brewers, Anheuser-Busch InBev, SABMiller Plc, Heineken and Carlsberg.

"That is the game that is going on," Van Boxmeer was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "And we expect to participate."

Three brewers are interested in buying Mexico's FEMSA Cerveza in a $7.5 billion plus auction, Reuters cited industry sources on November, 27.

SABMiller Plc, the world’s second-largest brewer, is seen as the front runner in the deal likely to be sealed in January, sources close to the situation said.

Europe-based brewers SABMiller and Heineken are both keen to buy one of the last big emerging market brewers, while Japan's largest brewer, Kirin Holdings Co, has asked for details on the brewer, which was effectively put up for sale last month.

"There are three groups looking at FEMSA. SABMiller and Heineken are in deep discussions, while Kirin has shown some interest," said one source with knowledge of the situation.

American brewer Molson Coors looked at FEMSA's beer operations but has backed away, largely reflecting the big loss it made buying Brazilian brewer Kaiser in 2002 then selling it to FEMSA in 2006, the sources said.

In early October, FEMSA said it was in talks with several parties to explore opportunities involving its beer business, and FEMSA's controlling family shareholders have already held talks with SABMiller, according to sources.

All parties declined comment on the matter.

FEMSA Cerveza has operations in two of the world's six biggest beer markets, ...More Info

China Resources (Holdings) Co., Ltd. will possibly spin off its beer and realty businesses and make them public independently, Reuters reported on November, 27.

“It can be five years and it can also be 10 years, all depends on how the businesses grow,” Frank Lai, chief financial officer, told reporters.

The capitalization of the beer business has accounted for half of the CRE operations, and there is potential for the business to conduct a separate listing, he added.

In October, the Chinese conglomerate said it aimed to focus on the rapidly growing mainland consumer market through an asset swap with a major shareholder, in a deal valued at nearly HK$5 billion ($645 million).

The conglomerate will transfer its interest in a textile division and two container terminal operations in Hong Kong and China's Yantian to its major shareholder in exchange for a hypermarket chain and a brewery in Shandong.

NYSE Liffe, the European derivatives exchange of NYSE Euronext, will launch malting barley futures in the next quarter and expects them to be as popular as rapeseed contracts, Reuters reported on December, 1.

Malting barley crops an annual 12 million tonnes in the European Union, or about 20 percent of barley output in the 27-member bloc, the rest being used mainly for animal feed.

NYSE Liffe has been working on Paris-based barley contracts since early 2008 in response to demand from grain cooperatives and malt manufacturers seeking to hedge over extended periods, Lionel Porte, product manager at NYSE Liffe, said in an interview.

"There aren't any futures contracts anywhere in the world at the moment for malting barley," Porte said, noting the demise of malting barley futures based in Hanover, Germany.

The absence of futures for malting barley had even led some operators to try and hedge with wheat derivatives, given a correlation in the price movements of the two crops, he added.

Contract specifications for the barley futures have been agreed by barley producers, malt manufacturers and brewers from across Europe, and NYSE Liffe was now awaiting approval from its clearing house and France's financial regulator to proceed.

The contracts will have as delivery points ...More Info

R. Juvonen and A. Haikara

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 115(3), 167–176, 2009 The aim of this study was to evaluate easy pre-PCR processing procedures to allow rapid and reliable detection of strictly anaerobic beer-spoilage bacteria throughout the brewing process by end-point and real-time PCR techniques. The efficiencies of the new procedures were evaluated using spiked brewery samples and specific PCRs for the target group bacteria. We found for the first time that the inclusion of 0.25% (w/v) bovine serum albumin (BSA) or 0.5% (w/v) polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) in the end-point PCR mixture reduces the inhibiting effect of brewery sample extracts (3–10%, v/v) on PCR. Membrane filtration with a PVP or a sodium tri-polyphosphate-EDTA wash, and cross-flow filtration were the most promising new methods to reduce inhibitors from beer samples before cell lysis. Together with BSA, they allowed the analysis of 10% (v/v) of crude extracts instead of <3% (v/v). Moreover, we developed a one-hour procedure to prepare target DNA from process samples containing brewer’s yeast. It involved removal of inhibitors by a twostep centrifugation followed by physical disruption of cells. The detection limit of the procedure was 101–103 CFU/mL. The developed procedures help to reduce the risk of partial or complete PCR failure due to inhibition and target DNA losses, with minimal sample handling.
Key words: beer, brewing process, facilitator, inhibition, PCR detection, sample treatment, strictly anaerobic beer-spoilage bacteria.
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