Asahi Group Holdings has made a $16 billion offer for Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), an Australian subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Great Northern Brewing Co, Crown Lager and Carlton Draught are among the brands in the CUB portfolio.
In a statement, Asahi said: “We expect to acquire the broad distribution network of CUB as well as benefitting from the advantage of greater scale in areas such as procurement by collaborating with Asahi’s existing Australian business which is of comparable size to CUB.
“The acquisition also further enhances Asahi’s management resources by bringing with it a wealth of talented global and local management.”
AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito said the company continues to see "great potential" in APAC, with the region remaining "a growth engine" for the company.
"With our unparalleled portfolio of brands, strong commercial plans and talented people, we are uniquely positioned to capture opportunities for growth across the APAC region."
The divestiture of CUB will go towards paying down AB InBev's debt. The company is aiming to reach a net debt to EBITDA target ratio of below 4x by the end of 2020, regardless of the completion of this transaction, Brito said. In 2016, the company bought rival SABMiller, which left it with a US$100 billion debt.
The sale to Asahi came off the back of AB InBev pulling out of its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange due to "prevailing market conditions" late last week (Food & Drink Business 19/07/2019).
The transaction is expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2020.
