Danish beer giant Carlsberg plans to reduce debt before completing further acquisitions. The company has said that after the debt is better managed investment in the Balkans and in China may be on the cards. The company's CEO told a Dow Jones Newswire reporter that the company would focus on its debt management for the time being. The Asian beer market is the largest in the world and is growing at 3 times the rate of the world beer market as a whole, but at the moment it is a market that Carlsberg is not focused on.

Currently the Danish brewer intends to reduce its debt of DKK30 billion before it looks into further investment. The CEO said: ”The objective is to return to a good debt situation so that we can start to expand quite rapidly for example in Asia.” It is possible that the company will look for investment after the company's debt is better managed.

Once the company is at this stage it is reported that the brewers will look into further acquisitions in the Balkans or in medium sized breweries in China. “We will be looking at concentrating on organic growth brand building and exporting existing facilities,” the CEO concluded.

02 March, 2004