Colombian brewer Bavaria said on July 18 that a fully-owned subsidiary bought 3.77 million Class A shares of Peruvian brewer Backus, according to Reuters. It is thought the company paid US$27 for each share. The move takes Bavaria's stake to 74% of Backus. Bavaria, which has been snapping up shares in Backus over the past year, said on June 25 that it had already controlled 60 % of the voting stock.

It was not immediately clear how much of Backus that Bavaria would now control with an additional 3.77 million shares. Bavaria said its Panamanian unit, Latin Development Corp., bought the shares from Cavet SA and European South America Corp, without providing further details.

Bavaria's increase in its investment in Backus comes at a moment when Brazilian brewer AmBev gets ready to enter the Peruvian beer market with an investment of $38 million in the construction of a plant.

Bavaria, controlled by Colombian businessman Julio Mario Santo Domingo, is Latin America's fourth-largest beer producer, dominating markets in its own country as well as in Peru, Panama and Ecuador.

21 July, 2003