China: Beijing Enterprises Holdings, owner of China’s third largest brewer, Beijing Yanjing Brewery, has increased its shareholdings in two smaller brewing groups. Yanjing paid CNY19.8 million for a 22.55 per cent stake in Yanjing Brewery (Ganzhou) Co., raising its total shareholding to 82.96 per cent. The stake was acquired from the Jiangxi Gannan group. The brewer also lifted its participation in Baotou Yanjing Brewery Co. to 79.13 per cent after acquiring a 27.56 per cent stake from the Baotou State-Owned-Asset Supervision Management Commission for CNY40.33 million, Beverage Daly posted on September 30.

The company said in a statement that the acquisitions were designed to help Yanjing increase its market share and expand its distribution network – vital in a country as large as China where the beer sector is still focused almost entirely on regional markets.

The last month has been a busy one for the Chinese brewing industry. SABMiller, a long-time investor in China, recently bought three breweries from Australia’s Lion Nathan, while Carlsberg, a relative newcomer, took a 35 per cent in the Wusu brewery in Xinjiang, the first major brewer to move into the underdeveloped western provinces.

Also this month, InBev, the company created by the merger of Interbrew of Belgium and Brazil’s AmBev, took 100 per cent control of the Lion Group’s brewing business, buying out its former partner Malaysia’s Lion Diversified Holdings Berhad.

01 October, 2004