InBev, the world's largest brewer, is close to securing a $50 billion financing package that would enable it to launch a takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch, the American maker of Budweiser, The Sunday Telegraph reported June 1.

The newspaper did not name its source, but said the Belgian brewer, which makes Stella Artois, is believed to have held talks with investment banks including JP Morgan, Santander, BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch about lining up a financing package that would provide it with a platform for a takeover approach.

Once InBev secures guaranteed financing, the board could write a formal letter to Anheuser-Busch board outlining the details of its offer, the newspaper added.

Market sources have speculated an offer letter could be sent as early as this week.

Heineken N.V. announced an investment in its breweries in France and a reorganization of its production units in order to drive efficiency improvements, according to company’s press release, May 30. The reorganization will further focus Heineken’s business in France on the branded and growing premium segments of the market. The reorganization includes:

* An investment of EUR 124 million over the next three years to upgrade the breweries in Mons-en-Barœul (North of France), Schiltigheim (Alsace) and Marseille * The closure of Brasserie Fischer in Schiltigheim by the end of 2009 and the gradual transfer of its production to the l’Espérance brewery in Schiltigheim * The sale of the Saint Omer brewery, the non-branded beer business

The exceptional restructuring costs associated to the reorganization will be charged to the 2008 and 2009 consolidated profit and loss accounts and will be recovered in 3 years after completion of the program. For 2008, these restructuring costs are included in the F2F program. For 2009, Heineken forecasts additional assets write-off of approximately EUR 20 million, which will be treated as exceptional items. It is expected that the total reorganization will lead to 126 job losses in ...More Info

Efes Breweries International N.V. (“EBI” or “the Company”) announced its consolidated financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2008 in accordance with IFRS, in a press release, June 2.

Management Commentary

“We are happy to report strong top line growth that we have achieved in the first quarter of 2008, which is especially driven by Russia, where we achieved double digit volume growth despite a stable market and strong base effect of 1Q2007” commented Alejandro Jimenez, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Management of EBI. “We are pleased to see increasing momentum in Russia that resulted in EBI being the fastest growing brewer in the first quarter of 2008. We intend to continue outperforming the market going forward as well. As a result of the global increase in raw material prices we had EBITDA margin contraction in this period, which is especially high in the first quarter based on lower sales volumes due to seasonality and the lag between the increase in raw material costs and our price increases. Nevertheless, EBITDA margin is expected to develop throughout 2008 as we sell more volumes, which is expected to limit the impact of the input cost pressures at lower levels through ...More Info

Nigerian Breweries Plc has declared a total of N9.07 billion as Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008, Leadership Nigeria reported June 3. This represents a 37% increase over the N6.63 billion declared as PBT for the same period in 2007. The company's un-audited and provisional result for the first quarter released the weekend also shows that it made a turnover of N32.40 billion, representing a 27% increase over the N25.51 billion achieved for the corresponding period of 2007. The rise in turnover resulted in an increase in Operating Profit from N6.6 billion in the first quarter of 2007 to N8.8 billion for the corresponding period in 2008. Profit After Tax (PAT) also increased by 39% from N4.45 billon in 2007 to N6.17 billion in 2008. The Directors of the company are of the opinion that the positive trend is likely to continue for the first half of 2008, baring unforeseen circumstances. The company, which held its 62nd Annual General Meeting in Lagos last week, declared a turnover of N111.75 billion for the financial year ended December 31, 2007.

This is a 29% increase over the N86.32 billion declared for the ...More Info

A newly established Ethiopian-U.S. investment group said it was building a $37 million brewery at Maichew, in the northern Tigray region, according to reuters, June 3.

Michael Gebre Mariam, chairman of the Ethio-American Investment Group, told reporters production would start by the end of 2010, and that the facility would have the capacity to produce 30 million litres of "Raya Beer" every year.

He said the site had been chosen because of a suitable water source nearby, and that the company planned to grow barley on 15 hectares of land it bought adjacent to the brewery.

The Ethio-American Investment Group, which has its headquarters in Duluth, Georgia, was set up this year by 25 Americans of Ethiopian origin, he said.

ABB Grain Ltd, Australia's top barley exporter, plans to raise at least A$170 million ($162 million) in fresh equity to help fund a new malthouse to meet Asia's growing demand for beer, Reuters reported June 3. ABB Grain said it would place 18.3 million new shares, the equivalent of 12.2 percent of its issued share capital, with local and foreign investors, taking advantage of its share price which has climbed 28 percent so far this year despite a weaker overall market. "As people become more affluent in Asia, they tend to drink more beer and assume more Western tastes," an ABB Grain spokesman said, adding that Asian annual beer consumption was growing at 7-8 percent a year compared with minimal growth in the domestic market.

The new malthouse, with an annual capacity of about 110,000 tonnes, would raise the firm's annual malt output by 22 percent to about 610,000 tonnes by 2011, the spokesman said.

The malt will be exported to Asia, where it is used to produce beer. ABB also exports malting barley to China, where it is turned into malt and used to produce beer.

The placement would be fully underwritten and carried out via a book-building, the company said in ...More Info

Maltsters and brewers from France announced the list of their preferred types of barley, according to La Depeche, May 23.

For spring barley, Henly, NFC Tipple, Pewter, Prestige, Scarlett and Sebastian have been chosen.

For winter barley, the industry operators recommend Vanessa for 2 row and Esterel and Azurel for 6 row.

Some varieties are under investigation, like Beatrix and Bellini for sprig and Arturio, Cartel and Cervoise for winter.

Crop prospects look bearish, but prices declined only moderately during the month, according to analysts, May 30. Right now Scandinavia is no seller, French and U.K. markets recovered somewhat during the past week. German farmers have resisted selling for too long, they still have not committed much more than 10% of their expected crops. But their markets declined by EUR 15,-/20,- since early May.

Present market prices are:

French barley, basis July 2008, FOB Creil, 2row spring EUR 242,-, 6row winter Esterel EUR 218,-, Cervoise EUR 195,-; FOB Moselle plus EUR 10,-.

Danish 2row spring, October, FOB seaport, only nominally EUR 243,-, U.K. 2row spring traded at that level.

German 2row spring, delivered malthouses, ex harvest EUR 260,-, basis October EUR 265,-.

Asia Pacific Breweries Limited (APBL) is planning to get into contract farming of barley for use in its breweries, Business Standard reported May 30. The company launched its flagship Tiger beer through Asia Pacific Breweries Pearl Private Limited, a joint venture with the Delhi-based Jaipuria Group, in Hyderabad.

Speaking to Business Standard, APBL South Asia regional director and group business development director Vivek Chhabra said APBL was exploring the possibilities of contract farming in north India, particularly in Rajasthan, to reduce the imports. "We will provide quality seed and technology for barley farming," he said.

APBL currently imports yeast that is cultured in Holland, hops from Europe and malt from Australia.

The company rejected Indian barley as it did not meet the international manufacturing standards that are followed at other breweries of the APBL abroad.

He said APBL would continue to source yeast, which gives beer its character, and hops, the female flower cones used for flavouring and as a stability agent in beer, to maintain the taste for a particular brand of beer across the countries.

The rise in prices of agri-products has resulted in beer production costs going up by 20 per cent in recent years. While malt price went up 60 per ...More Info

Ukrainian hop producers are not able to cover the needs of beer sector, according to the President of AO Obolon Brewery, Alexandr Slobodyan, the media reported May 30.

Country’s beer market is growing while hop production remains the same. According to Mr. Slobodyan, domestic hop producers, who benefit every year from financial resources from a special fund, are selling their product at European prices level. Also, the production of hop extract is almost inexistent in situation where the beer producers use a 50:50 proportion of hops and hop extract.

In these conditions, producers are obliged to import the hops, paying 20% tax in state budget.

Janette Bobalova, Jiri Salplachta1 and Josef Chmelik

Abstract
J. Inst. Brew. 114(1), 22–26, 2008 The protein composition of barley partly determines its quality in terms of malting and brewing. For this reason, the watersoluble proteins of two different barley cultivars were investigated by gel electrophoresis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ ionization mass spectrometry. Mass spectra were obtained directly from barley extracts by using three matrices. According to the quality of the measured spectra, it was possible to establish which matrix was the most suitable for the analysis of water-soluble proteins from barley. We found that the protein patterns did not differ significantly between Jersey and Tolar varieties. However, our results showed the influence of the malting process on the posttranslational modification of some watersoluble barley proteins. These proteins also survive the brewing process and they are very important for the formation and stability of beer foam. Several barley proteins were also identified by proteomic analysis. Key words: Barley, barley proteins, MALDI, mass spectrometry, matrix, protein pattern. ... Load full article, 4 pages, 1440 Kb, PDF file