Vietnam: The Vietnam Brewery Limited Company officially changes its name to Heineken Vietnam Brewery Limited Company

The Vietnam Brewery Limited Company (VBL) officially changed its name to Heineken Vietnam Brewery Limited Company (Heineken Vietnam Brewery) and released a new logo on August 1, VietNamNet Bridge reported.

There are no changes to the shareholding structure between the two stakeholders in the joint venture. The Saigon Trading Group (Satra) continues to hold 40 per cent while Heineken Asia Pacific partner still holds 60 per cent.

“The new image of Heineken Vietnam Brewery will be introduced in the Asia Pacific region and no changes will be made to management and organizational structure,” said Ms. Le Minh Trang, Chairman of Heineken Vietnam Brewery and General Director of Satra.

The company will preserve its business and production models as well as the property rights on its all brands, which include Heineken, Tiger, Larue, BGI, Bivina, Desperados, Affligem and Strongbow Cider.

According to Mr. Leo Evers, Managing Director of Heineken Vietnam Brewery, products under the old brand name will continue to be distributed and their quality will remain unchanged.

With annual profit averaging around $186 million and State budget contributions $573 million, many have asked whether Heineken has its eyes on Satra’s shareholding in the joint venture, with its first step being to change the brewery’s name.

In 2012 Heineken spent $6.3 billion on purchasing Fraser and Neave’s 40 per cent holding in Asia Pacific Breweries - the maker of Tiger beer and also one of the largest brewers in Southeast Asia. According to Euromonitor figures, more than 80 per cent of Vietnam’s beer market is held by Sabeco, Heineken and Habeco.

The company now ranks second in the domestic market with output of 729 million liters in 2015, following the Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) with 1.38 billion liters, according to figures released by the Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA).

Heineken Vietnam Brewery surpassed the Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Habeco) last year to take second spot.

Heineken Vietnam Brewery has four breweries in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and Quang Nam and Tien Giang provinces.

Heneiken Asia Pacific also operates in northern Vietnam through the wholly-owned Asia Pacific Brewery Hanoi Limited Company (APB).

Heineken, the world’s third largest brewer, has recently announced Vietnam to be among its three Asian markets with potential for outstanding growth, joining Cambodia and Indonesia.

Vietnam’s beer market saw output of 1,323.7 million litres in the first five months of 2016, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 per cent. Production in May reached nearly 309 million litres, an increase of 1.9 per cent compared to May last year.

Sabeco had achieved its production 505.5 million litres this year by the end of May and Habeco’s had reached 225.7 million litres.

04 August, 2016