Brazilian beverage company AmBev , the world's fifth-largest brewer, said on February 4 it aimed to raise some 600 million reais ($206 million) to cover investment in its distribution and production network, according to Reuters. The company said it had called an extraordinary shareholders meeting for Feb. 19 to seek approval of a plan to raise the cash from Brazil's state-run National Economic and Social Development Bank, or BNDES.

Some 123 million reais of the total would be raised through a debenture issue to the BNDES operating arm, the BNDESPar, while the rest would come from the BNDES via other debt instruments, AmBev's press department said without elaborating. The BNDES said it had approved the operations with AmBev, formally Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, which controls two-thirds of Brazil's beer market and has operations across Latin America. It declined to confirm the size of the financing.

AmBev's stock fell 0.3 percent to 708.20 reais in early afternoon trade in Brazil. The country's benchmark Bovespa stock index was 0.2 % higher at the time.

06 February, 2004