S&N suitor Heineken turns east with Belarus beer deal

Published on Friday 28 December 2007 20:36

DUTCH brewer Heineken, currently in a consortium with Denmark's Carlsberg to try and acquire Scottish & Newcastle, drove into the fast-growing Belarus beer market yesterday by buying the Syabar Brewing Company.

Brewing analysts said the move was aimed at offsetting sluggish growth in more mature western beer markets.

S&N has rebuffed the 750p per share approach by the consortium, but if a bid was ever successful, Heineken would take on S&N's UK market operations. The consortium has been told by the City Takeover Panel that it must make a formal offer or walk away by 21 January.

Heineken, the world's fourth-largest brewer after InBev, SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch, did not disclose financial details of yesterday's deal. But Jan Meijer, drinks analyst at Dutch broker Theodoor Gilissen, said in a note he expected the Dutch brewer, which is privately owned, to pay between 70 million (51.5m) and 130m.

The acquisition of Syabar comes after its planned takeovers of Serbia's brewer Rodic announced earlier this month, and of Czech Krusovice Brewery announced in June.

The move is part of Heineken's strategy to obtain leading market positions and compensate for low growth rates in western Europe and the United States, a group spokesman said.

The Amsterdam-based brewer is already a big player in eastern Europe, being No 3 in the fast-growing Russian market behind Baltic Beverages Holding, the Scottish & Newcastle and Carlsberg joint venture, and InBev. It is also No 2 in Poland behind SABMiller.