Heineken’s Asahi deal blocks Coca Cola Amatil acquisition plans

Brewing giant Heineken has bought a range of beer and cider assets from Asahi, thwarting any plans by Coca Cola Amatil to do the same.

Becks is one of the beer brands covered by the new deal between Asahi and Heineken.

Global brewing giant Heineken has bought a range of beer and cider assets from Japanese brewer Asahi that came as part of that company’s $16bn acquisition last year of Carlton & United Breweries, marking the latest shake-up of beverage brands in Australia.

It also means that Coca-Cola Amatil, currently the target of a $9.3bn takeover from Coca-Cola European Partners, will not be scooping up the brands, with some analysts predicting that its initial interest in buying them helped prompt its European peer to make its move.

The deal, which covers licences for Strongbow, Little Green and Bonamy’s, plus Stella Artois and Beck’s, will help smooth the way for Asahi to take ownership of CUB with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission requiring the divestment of some of its local beer and cider brands in order to allow the acquisition to go ahead.

Asahi said it was pleased to announce it had taken a major step towards finalising the divestment process.

The deal remains subject to regulatory approval, which is expected to come in the fourth quarter 2020.

There will be no manufacturing job losses nor brewery closures associated with the deal, Asahi said.

Under Heineken ownership, the brands covered by the deal will be distributed in Australia by Drinkworks, the Australian sales and marketing arm of DB Breweries Limited (DB), Heineken’s wholly-owned Australasian subsidiary.

Drinkworks distributes a range of Heineken and DB beers and ciders in Australia, including Tiger, Sol, Monteith’s Beer and Cider and Orchard Thieves Cider.

Peter Simons, managing director at DB said: “We are delighted to add the Strongbow brand, as well as Stella Artois, Becks, Little Green and Bonamy’s, to Drinkworks’ existing premium beer and cider portfolio. The addition of these brands will enable Drinkworks to further scale up and grow our operations in Australia, which is a very important market for us and one in which we expect future growth, particularly in the premium segment.”