SABMiller explores sale of Grolsch, Peroni
Disposal of the two brands could raise more than $1 billion
ANHEUSER-BUSCH (AB) InBev would explore the sale of SABMiller’s European premium beer brands, including Peroni and Grolsch, smoothing the way for the £73.5 billion (R1.6 trillion) takeover of its main rival, it said.
Selling the assets would potentially raise more than $1 billion (R14.4bn), according to analyst estimates, and more importantly help clear possible antitrust hurdles arising from AB InBev’s purchase of the maker of Castle Lager.
Meantime Brewing, the independent UK beer maker acquired this year by SABMiller, was also among brands that were being considered for sale, the companies said yesterday.
AB InBev is taking swift action to head off potential regulatory issues for a deal that would create a company controlling about half the industry’s profit.
Molson Coors has agreed to acquire SABMiller’s 58 percent stake in MillerCoors for $12bn, while a 49 percent stake in China Resources Snow Breweries may also need to be sold. Selling Peroni and Grolsch “would help reduce leverage and doesn’t make the SABMiller acquisition less attractive”, Javier Gonzalez Lastra, an analyst at Berenberg in London, said. “They are attractive assets. They’re very well positioned, internationally recognised brands.”
Peroni and Grolsch could fetch as much as $1.2bn, Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Pablo Zuanic estimated. Potential buyers include Japan’s Kirin Holdings and Carlsberg, he added.
“Divesting Peroni and Grolsch should have minimal effect on the upside” that the Budweiser maker would generate from buying SABMiller, Zuanic said. A sale “would be within our expectations, and we would see this as a positive sign if it paves the path to regulatory approval of the deal”.
AB InBev shares were almost unchanged at €122.05 (R1 862) as of 11.39am in Brussels. SABMiller was little changed at £40.52 in London.
Peroni – founded in Lombardy, Italy, in 1846 – has outpaced Grolsch over the past decade as the brand has leaned on its association with Italy’s fashion world to become a beer of choice for young drinkers in bars and restaurants, particularly in the UK.
Dutch beer Grolsch, a pale lager known for its flip-top cap that can be opened by hand, has found growth harder to come by. Grolsch’s European selling volume has fallen by 13 percent since 2005, while Peroni’s has increased by 5.4 percent, according to Euromonitor data.
Peroni, acquired by SABMiller for about €400 million between 2003 and 2005, is now worth about €938m, according to Jyske Bank estimates. Grolsch, bought for about e878m in 2008, might fetch about e268m, the brokerage said.
Meantime is a smaller business and its products, such as London Lager, are sold in more than 900 pubs and bars. – Bloomberg