Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings Ltd has offered US$3.5 billion for two top European lager brands from British giant SABMiller PLC, in what would be the biggest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese beer company, a report said yesterday.
Board members finalized the ￥400 billion proposal on Tuesday for Peroni of Italy and the Netherlands’ Grolsch, the leading Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources.
The company refused to confirm the report but said in a statement it was “studying a variety of possibilities for a capital and business tie-up, including this case.”
Nothing has been finalized, it added.
Asahi Group on Tuesday said it seeks to expand beyond Asia after forecasting this year’s profit that trails analyst estimates as a slowing economy weighs on domestic sales, Bloomberg Newswire reported.
Net income will probably be ￥80 billion (US$697.4 million) for this year, up 4.7 percent from last year, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. That compares with the average estimate of ￥89 billion from 10 analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Sales are expected to grow about 0.7 percent, Asahi said.
A higher yen is expected to cut into the company’s profits this year when it repatriates earnings from its overseas operations which make up about 13 percent of Asahi’s total sales, managing director Yoshihide Okuda said at a post-earnings press conference.
The company also announced on Tuesday that Akiyoshi Koji, the head of its beer subsidiary, will become group president, replacing Naoki Izumiya who has been appointed chairman, Bloomberg reported. Izumiya will retain his post as chief executive officer. The changes will become effective next month, the report said.
Acquiring the brands, which have a long history in Asia-Pacific, would allow Asahi to broaden its overseas strategy, the Nikkei said. Overseas sales only account for about 10 percent of Asahi’s total sales.
Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world’s top brewer, is taking over rival SABMiller, and Peroni and Grolsch have been put on the market as part of an asset sale arrangement, the Nikkei said.
If successful, the deal would be the biggest since Kirin Holdings Co turned Australia’s Lion Nathan Ltd into a wholly owned subsidiary for ￥330 billion in 2009, the Nikkei said.
AB InBev in November last year announced the purchase of SABMiller for US$121 billion, which was the third-largest acquisition in history.
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