Peru: Columbian beer and beverage company, Empresarial Bavaria, has emphatically denied rumours of the sale of its majority stake in Peru’s Union de Cervecerias Peruanas Backus & Johnston. As reported two weeks ago, a story on Peruvian newspaper Correo’s website claimed that Interbrew officials had met with Bavaria in the US to finalise a deal to acquire Backus from Bavaria. No sources were cited in the story.

Bavaria and Backus both published newspaper advertisements late last week in Peru, saying they had been the victims of a campaign of “disinformation.” Bavaria went on to say that it “categorically rejected any imaginary sale of Backus & Johnston.”

Last week, Bavaria announced that it had acquired a 49% stake in bottler Embotelladora Centroamericana, or ECSA.

27 January, 2004