• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

UPDATE 1-United Breweries to market Heineken in India-paper

Tue May 12, 2009 7:32am EDT

Stocks

   

(Adds UB Group's confirmation, share price)

MUMBAI, May 12 (Reuters) - India's largest beer maker, United Breweries (UB) (UBBW.BO), has reached a deal to bottle and distribute Heineken (HEIN.AS) brands in the country, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday.

UB, in which the Dutch brewer acquired a 37.5 percent holding last year, will also get a one-time fee of 3 billion rupees ($60.5 million) after settling differences over the role of Heineken in the Indian company, the newspaper said.

Heineken had got the UB holding following a takeover with Carlsberg CARb.CO of the Indian brewer's erstwhile partner, Scottish & Newcastle.

"We confirm that we are in dialogue with Heineken," a spokesman for the UB group told Reuters. He said there were no further comments ad an announcement would be made when appropriate.

The deal will see UB adding two premium beers, Heineken and Tiger, to its portfolio and will help it weather increasing competition from international beer makers, the paper said.

UB sells the popular Kingfisher brand and has more than half of the Indian beer market, which grew 10 percent in the last financial year.

The local operations of Asia Pacific Breweries (APBB.SI), Heineken's Singapore affiliate, is likely to be brought under the UB fold leading to a consolidation of the two companies' beer operations in India, the newspaper said.

"We don't comment on market speculation," the paper quoted a Heineken spokesperson as saying.

Shares in United Breweries, valued at $570 million, rose 5 percent to 122.55 rupees in a Mumbai market .BSESN that rose 4.1 percent. ($1=49.6 rupees) (Reporting by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)



More from Reuters

A Greenpeace activist dressed as one of the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" rides outside the parliament building during a brief protest in Copenhagen December 13, 2009.   REUTERS/Christian Charisius

The face of climate protest

Protesters around the globe called for an end to global warming as climate talks in Copenhagen entered their sixth day.  Video 

    In this photo reviewed by the U.S. Military, a guard leans on a fencepost as a Guantanamo detainee (L) jogs inside the exercise yard at Camp 5 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, January 21, 2009.  REUTERS/Brennan Linsley/Pool

    Life after Guantanamo

    Critics are worried that Gitmo prisoners once dubbed "enemy combatants" will be using prisons as pulpits for anti-American rhetoric once they're moved to U.S. soil.  Full Article 

    Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Robert Stevens answers a question during the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington December 14, 2009.  REUTERS/Molly Riley

    Lockheed eyes deals

    The future demands of cybersecurity make that sector one of many the aerospace giant sees as an acquisition target in the coming year.  Full Article