Carlton United Breweries acquired in $16bn deal

Carlton & United Breweries is set to change hands again, with the company behind VB and Carlton getting new overseas owners.

Japanese brewer Asahi has taken over Carlton & United Breweries.

JAPANESE beverage titan Asahi has struck a bumper $16 billion deal to buy Australia’s biggest brewer.

Asahi will take ownership of Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught and a host of other top-selling brands after snaring Carlton & United Breweries.

It is buying CUB from the brewer’s Belgian parent, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

As part of the deal, Asahi has also secured Australian distribution rights to major foreign beer brands including Corona, Stella Artois and Budweiser.

The deal, announced yesterday afternoon, means Japanese companies own both Australia’s major brewers.

Lion, owner of brands including Tooheys, XXXX and James Boag’s, is owned by Asahi’s rival, Kirin.

Asahi is expected to formally take ownership of CUB in the first quarter next year.

The $16 billion price put on the deal is the enterprise value, which includes the amount of debt the Tokyo-based company will take on under the transaction.

The deal was announced this afternoon.

Anheuser-Busch, the world’s biggest brewer, has agreed to sell CUB after this week shelving plans for a $US10 billion ($14.3 billion) float of its Asian business.

It had planned to float that business — which includes the Australian brewer and also sells brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona and Hoegaarden — on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

CUB accounts for about 30 per cent of that division, which is called Budweiser Brewing Company APAC.

Anheuser Busch said in a statement yesterday that there was still scope to sell a stake in its Asian operation — which will now exclude CUB — if the price were right.

The Belgian-based drinks goliath has been exploring divestments as it tries to drive down debt.

The Japanese brewer had already purchased the Peroni and Grolsch beer brands from AB InBev.

It is believed Asahi has been examining deals in the Australian market for some time.

Based in Melbourne, CUB also owns brands including Crown Lager, Great Northern and Cascade.

Its Australian market share last year was 48.8 per cent, according to industry research. Lion’s was 36.4 per cent.

CUB was formerly part of Foster’s Group, which was bought by Anglo-South African heavyweight SABMiller in 2011 for more than $10 billion.

Five years later, SABMiller was bought out by Anheuser-Busch.

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Asahi is well known to Anheuser-Busch after earlier striking a deal to acquire its Peroni and Grolsch beer brands in a transaction worth $US3 billion.

The latest deal will provide funds for Anheuser-Busch to further invest in its Asian operations, including those in China, Korea and South East Asia.

Talks between Asahi and the Belgian company were halted while the plans for the initial public offering in Hong Kong were underway.

But they were reignited as Anheuser-Busch moved to shelve plans for the float.

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