Brewery’s future bright

Yatala expected to play key role in Asahi’s plans

MANAGERS of Australia’s biggest brewery are confident the Yatala facility will continue to grow in the wake of Carlton United Breweries’ $16 billion sale to Japanese beer giant Asahi.

In the proposed sale, announced last Friday, CUB’s Belgian owner AnheuserBusch InBev agreed to sell to Japan’s Asahi, with the bulk of the proceeds to be used to pay off debt.

CUB employs 260 staff at its Yatala powerhouse, which pumps out more than 400 million litres of beer every year.

Today the brewery is a 24hour operation running fivedays-a-week except for Easter and Christmas when demand soars and the factory goes into overdrive.

At full production, it can churn out one million cans in a 12-hour shift.

The economic impact of the brewery on southeast Queensland extends to its suppliers, with bottles and cans also sourced from the region.

Yatala Brewery manager Tom Robinson said the Darlington Dve facility was a vital part of CUB’s operations.

“It is the biggest brewery in Australia, producing just under 25 per cent of the Australian domestic beer and cider market and employs around 260 Queenslanders,” he said.

“It will continue to play a critical role for CUB and for Queensland as we continue to grow the business with Asahi.”

A spokeswoman for Asahi said the purchase would be the company’s first foray into Queensland, and that its longterm strategy for CUB’s assets, including the Yatala brewery, was yet to be determined.

“That said, one of the attractions of the acquisition was CUB’s suite of assets,” she said.

The $16 billion to be paid for CUB is 14.9 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The brewery was built in the late 1980s by publican-turnedbrewer Bernard Power who sold it in 1993 to CUB. It became the largest in Australia after CUB shifted production from its inner city Sydney brewery to Yatala in 2005.

CUB was taken over by Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2016 and produces Great Northern, Victoria Bitter, Pure Blonde, Leffe, Wild Yak, Pirate Life and Carlton Draught.

Asahi owns craft brewers Mountain Goat and Cricketers Arms as well as its own Asahi, Pilsner, Grolsch and Peroni beer brands and Schweppes soft drinks.

The sale is yet to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, with the companies currently producing more than half of Australia’s beer between them.