Heineken's Boxmeer brings more beers to the table

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Heineken (HEIN.AS) Chief Executive Jean-Francois van Boxmeer's deal with Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) to buy parts of Scottish & Newcastle SCTN.L gives the brewer many more beer brands and top spot in Britain.

Belgian Boxmeer, Heineken's first non-Dutch chief executive, has bagged names including Foster's, John Smith's and Newcastle Brown Ale with the 7.8-billion-pound ($15.3 billion) agreed bid.

He has also raised his company's profile in Belgium, Finland, India, Ireland, Portugal and the United States.

Since taking over the top job in October 2005, van Boxmeer, a Heineken insider who has worked for the brewer since 1984, has concentrated on boosting sales, entering high-growth emerging markets and promoting Heineken as a premium beer brand.

Van Boxmeer was also quick to launch a large cost-cutting program in 2006 as all brewers faced soaring costs of malting barley and the price of aluminum cans. The annual savings target soon rose to 450 million euros ($659.3 million) by 2008 to offset further inflationary pressures.

Stints in Cameroon, Congo and Rwanda, followed by management duties in Italy and Poland have given van Boxmeer a global perspective and key experience in the developing world -- a crucial battleground for the world's largest brewers as Western beer markets stagnate.

The 46-year-old Belgian is also widely credited for shaking-up Heineken's outdated business culture, which relied on Dutch models of consensus building and collective action, replacing this with individual responsibility and innovation.

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Suzy Valentine)