Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s interest in buying the rest of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo on Monday warmed investors eager to see fresh consolidation in the global beer market.
Shares of both brewing giants rose after Modelo and Belgian-based AB InBev, which has a 50.4 percent non-controlling stake in the Mexican company, said on Monday they were discussing expanding their joint relationship.
Fueled by Mexico’s growing beer market, AB InBev could unlock big cost savings and give the company control of exports of Corona beer, the No. 1 imported brand in the US.
Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health
Photo: Bloomberg
The deal, which would follow a series of recent mergers in the industry, could be worth well over US$10 billion, though the family-controlled Mexican brewer said nothing was set in stone.
“These talks may or may not result in the consummation of a deal and any speculation on the terms and conditions is premature,” Modelo said in a statement.
An agreement would give Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, access to the Mexican beer market, which is growing by between 2 percent and 3 percent a year.
Mexico is the world’s sixth-biggest beer market and the fourth-most profitable, and is a virtual duopoly between No. 1 player Modelo and Heineken.
In terms of volume, Modelo is the world’s seventh-biggest brewer, according to independent researcher Plato Logic.
Modelo shares jumped 19.3 percent to close at 116.87 pesos (US$8.37) on Mexico’s stock exchange, while AB InBev shares closed up 2 percent at 56.75 euros, making them the biggest gainer in the FTSEurofirst 300 index of leading European shares.
Banking sources said the two sides were in intensive talks, but the sticking point was the size of the premium the Modelo families can extract from AB InBev.
“The families are willing to sell, but they want a big price as they see a big boost for AB InBev from owning 100 percent of Modelo,” one banker close to the talks said.
The deal would be the latest in a string of changes in the global brewing industry as companies seek growth in emerging markets and look to make big savings in procurement and distribution.
In April, AB InBev agreed to buy the Dominican Republic’s Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana for more than US$1.2 billion, while in the same month, Molson Coors bought East European brewer StarBev for 2.65 billion euros (US$3.5 billion), and last year SABMiller purchased Foster’s for US$11.8 billion.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained