Asahi will purchase Ursus and five other Eastern European beer brands from from Anheuser-Busch InBev in a EUR 7.3 billion deal. This is Asahi’s biggest deal and comes after its EUR 2.55 billion purchase of SABMiller brands Peroni and Grolsch.
Following the purchase of Pilsner Urquell (Czech Republic), Tyskie and Lech (Poland), Dreher (Hungary), Asahi will have a 9 percent European market share. Heineken owns 20 percent of the market, followed by Carlsberg. The brands have annual sales of EUR 500,000.
The transaction is pending approval from the European Commission and could close in the first half of 2017. Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell the five brands to ease clearance from competition regulators for its USD 100 billion takeover of SABMiller, which was finalized in October.
Georgeta Gheorghe
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