Carlsberg Breweries wants to buy out its partner from its Asian joint venture, the CEO of Carlsberg Breweries said on August 15. The move is the result of the collapse of business relations between the two groups earlier this month. The Thai business tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi jointly owns Carlsberg’s Asian operations. The two companies jointly own South Korea's largest beer maker Hite, in two Chinese breweries and in the monopoly Laos brewer Lao.

"We want to take over all of our Asian activities. We would like to buy him (Charoen) out," Carlsberg Breweries CEO Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in a statement.

However, Smedegaard it may be hard to acquire the whole of Lao Brewery because of the strong political connections between Laos and Thailand.

19 August, 2003