E-Malt.com News article: 1136

Baltic Beverages Holding AB (BBH), owned by Carlsberg Breweries and Scottish & Newcastle, is continuing its strong expansion in Kazakhstan by acquiring its second brewery in the country. BBH has signed an agreement to purchase the total share capital of the brewery Ak-Nar in Almaty, Kazakstan at a prize of approx. DKK 190 million (USD 30 million). The sellers are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a private investor. The acquisition is subject to approval by authorities.

The Ak-Nar brewery is newly built and has a capacity of 0.6 million hl beer, and the capacity can be expanded at low costs. In November last year, BBH acquired 76 % of the Irbis brewery also situated in Almaty. The plan was to increase the brewing capacity of Irbis by investing DKK 335 million in building a new brewery, however, a merger between Ak-Nar and Irbis makes this investment unnecessary.

The acquisition of Ak-Nar increases BBH’s possibilities to expand in Kazakstan fast and at low costs. Irbis is a leading premium brand and the Ak-Nar brand Derbes holds a strong position in the segment for standard beer.

The economy of Kazakstan is one of the fastest growing compared to that of the other former Soviet republics. The approx. 17 million inhabitants have an annual per capita consumption of 20 litres beer providing excellent possibilities of growth. Apart from the latest acquisition, BBH has inaugurated via its subsidiary Baltika two new breweries this year in Samara and Habarovsk at a total investment of approx.DKK 700 million. Including the acquisition of Ak-Nar, BBH now owns 18 breweries of which four are in the Baltic countries, ten in Russia, two in Ukraine, and two in Kazakstan.

In 2002, BBH sold 29 million hl beer and showed an operating profit of DKK 2.4 billion. BBH has around 14.000 employees. BBH is owned 50/50 by Carlsberg Breweries and Scottish & Newcastle. The brewery is the market leader in a number of countries, notably in Russia where it has a 34% market share, and it now owns 18 breweries, 10 of which are in Russia, 2 in Ukraine, 4 in the Baltic countries and 2 in Kazakhstan.


27 May, 2003