Bosnia: Europe's largest brewers head the list of eight companies that have applied for a majority stake in Bosnia's biggest brewery, Banjalucka Pivara, its general manager said on February 18. "The most serious bidders are Dutch Heineken, Belgian Interbrew, Denmark's Carlsberg Breweries A/S and Slovenia's Pivovarna Lasko," Predrag Radic told Reuters. Radic said London-based SABMiller Plc, the world's second-largest brewer behind Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. of the United States, has also expressed interest in buying a 53.81 % stake in the Banjalucka brewery.

Two Austrian brewers and an individual representing a group of investors are also interested, he said. The privatisation tender was opened last month and runs until March 10. It did not specify the price for the stake in the only brewery in Bosnia's Serb Republic but its government had earlier put the value at 43 million Bosnian marka ($28.3 million).

The government is seeking a strategic investor who is in the beer business for 10 years to continue production and invest in the company's development. The bidders need to have an annual revenue of at least 100 million marka. Radic said that Interbrew, which is vying for the stake in Banjalucka for the second time in the last four years, has had "the best acquisitions" in the region after having acquired the biggest brewery in the Balkans and three others.

Interbrew pulled out in 2001 from an almost completed deal to buy a majority stake in Banjalucka due to a disagreement with the management on how to run the company after privatisation. Interbrew, the world's third-largest brewer, bought Serbia's largest beer maker, Apatinska Pivara, last year and has acquired breweries in Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.
Radic said Banjalucka Pivara, which had invested some 50 million marka in recent years, signed a 20 million marka loan with Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank on Tuesday to expand production capacity to one million hectolitres of beer. He said that the brewery recorded a turnover of 72 million marka last year, with a net profit of seven million marka.

20 February, 2004