Japan: Suntory brewery says it is ready for further acquisitions without specifying whether in the beer industry

Suntory Ltd, one of Japan’s leading brewers, said it was ready to spend another $2.2 billion on acquisitions to spur on growth, Reuters reported on October, 28.

Privately held Suntory and rival beer makers Kirin Holdings and Asahi Breweries have been bidding against each other for overseas assets, eager to secure growth outside the mature Japanese market.

Last week, Suntory sealed a $770 million deal for Danone’s Frucor juice unit.

"We want to actively pursue acquisitions regardless of whether they are at home or overseas," said Satoshi Hamaoka, head of public relations at Suntory, whose products include "Boss" canned coffee, "Yamazaki" single malt whiskey and "Malt's" beer.

Japan's food and beverage firms have been among the most active in making overseas acquisitions, landing $2.8 billion worth of cross-border deals so far this year, 13 times the amount spent in all of 2007, Thomson Reuters data shows.

Suntory has plenty of firepower for acquisitions. It was sitting on about $2 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of the end of the last year, nearly four times the size of Kirin's cashpile, experts maintain.

Suntory vies with Sapporo Holdings for a distant third place in Japan's beer market behind Asahi and Kirin, but it generates more revenue overall than Asahi thanks to a diversified portfolio of beverage and food products.

The firm plans to double its overseas sales to 400 billion yen by around 2010, helping it reach a group revenue target of 2 trillion yen, against 1.49 trillion yen last year.

Suntory established a special team in April to search for mergers and acquisition opportunities. The team is headed by a scion of founder Shinjiro Torii, who gave the company its start by opening a grape wine store in Osaka in 1899.

($1=92.93 Yen)

28 October, 2008