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Bridget Carter

Asahi to buy CUB from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $16bn

Bridget Carter
Carlton United Breweries CEO Peter Filipovic. Picture: Aaron Francis
Carlton United Breweries CEO Peter Filipovic. Picture: Aaron Francis

Asahi has reached a deal with Anheuser-Busch InBev to acquire Carlton & United Breweries for $16 billion.

The deal was announced on Friday afternoon.

Working with Asahi has been its long term adviser Rothschild, while Lazard worked for the Belgium-based seller AB InBev.

It comes after talks between the two parties since April.

CUB’s key beer brands include Carlton, Great Northern and Victoria Bitter.

Its annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation are more than $1.075bn while sales are at least $2.294bn.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, has reached the deal after it recently shelved plans for the $US10bn ($14.3bn) initial public offering in Hong Kong of its Asian business, which includes the Australian brewer and brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona and Hoegaarden and CUB.

CUB, based in Melbourne, was bought by Foster’s in 2004. It is the company behind some of Australia’s best known beers including Victoria Bitter.

Foster’s was bought by South Africa’s SABMiller in 2011 for $11bn, and in 2016 SABMiller was acquired by AB InBev.

The Belgium-based drinks giant has been exploring divestments as it tries to drive down debt, and Asahi is understood to have been examining acquisitions in the Australian market for some time.

AB InBev is well known to the Japanese brewer after earlier buying the Peroni and Grolsch beer brands in a transaction worth $US3bn, which was also advised by Rothschild.

As part of the deal, AB InBev will license its beer brands including Corona, Stella Artois and Budweiser to Asahi.

The deal will provide funds for AB InBev to further invest in its Asian operations, including those in China and Korea and South East Asia.

Carlton & United Breweries comprised about 30 per cent of AB InBev’s Asia Pacific operations which were were earmarked for an IPO until the past week.

Talks between Asahi and AB InBev halted while the IPO plans were underway but were reignited on Friday after the float plans were shelved.

Bridget Carter
Bridget CarterDataRoom Editor

Bridget Carter has worked as a writer and editor for The Australian’s DataRoom column since it was launched in 2013, focusing on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and investment banking. She has been a journalist for more than 18 years, covering a broad range of events and topics, including high profile court cases and crimes, natural disasters, social issues and company news.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/dataroom/asahi-to-buy-cub-from-anheuserbusch-inbev-for-16bn/news-story/aed96eebe354c3e2c8eadeb9130825f1