Asahi drops Lion bid after $16b Carlton United takeover

It would have marked another bumper sale of some big Australian brands but Asahi has suddenly dropped plans to buy an iconic beverage business.

Asahi has abandoned a plan to buy the Australian-based Lion Dairy and Drinks division following its $16 billion takeover of Carlton & United Breweries (CUB).

The Australianreports the Japanese brewer most likely dropped its plans to buy the Lion division, which is worth between $500m and $1b, after the revival of talks with Anheuser Busch InBev — the brewer of US beer giant Budweiser — over buying its CUB business.

Asahi’s landmark deal to buy CUB from Anheuser-Busch was announced on Friday.

It means Australia’s two biggest brewers and the nation’s biggest beer brands will now be owned by Japanese interests.

Lion, which owns brands including Toohey’s, XXXX and James Boag’s, is owned by another Japanese beverage titan, Kirin.

Kirin plans to hold on to its beer brands, but wants to sell the Lion dairy and juice division, which owns brands including Pura, Dairy Farmers, Big M and Berri.

Victoria Bitter will be Japanese-owned

CUB chief Peter Filipovic said his company, which runs the Abbotsford brewery, Hobart’s Cascade brewery and Yatala brewery near Brisbane, would benefit from the deal.

“We look forward to growing the business and the beer category with Asahi,” he told Nine Newspapers.

“Not only will we continue to brew our famous beers such as VB and Carlton Draught in Australia, but we’ll join a company that has fantastic beers such as Asahi and Peroni.”

Thank XXXX for that! Brewery future assured

Iconic Melbourne brewer sold to Japanese giant

Asahi is on the verge of taking control of CUB. Picture: AFP

The CUB deal is still subject to scrutiny by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

If the offer gets the green light Asahi will then own Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught as well as CUB’s craft beers including Great Northern, 4 Pines, Yaks Ale, Pirate Life and Pure Blonde.

It also brews under licence Australia’s most popular premium foreign beer, Corona, as well as Stella Artois and Budweiser.

Hollywood movie director Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of Victoria Bitter. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Melbourne-based CUB has been around since 1903 and was owned by Foster’s up until 2011, when it was sold to SABMiller for $11bn.

It was later folded into a $US100bn (AU$142 billion) merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev which resulted in the creation of the biggest brewer in the world.

It still controls half of Australia’s beer sales.

A classic Tooheys ad featuring the NSW Sheffield Shield cricket team in the last century. Tooheys is now owned by Japanese brewer Kirin. Picture: Supplied

Beermakes up 65.3 per cent of the local alcohol drinks market.

CUB has introduced new beers such as Great Northern and a non-alcoholic beer, Carlton Zero.

The biggest Australian-owned brewer remains family-owned Coopers Brewery, which is based in South Australia and has a market share of about 5 per cent.

Originally published as Asahi drops Lion bid after $16b Carlton United takeover