peroni

Asahi has signalled its global ambitions after striking a deal with AB InBev to acquire Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime for €2.6bn (£2bn).

AB InBev announced in December it was offloading the three SAB Miller brands to pre-empt any European competition concerns that could hinder the £71bn takeover of SAB. The sale to Asahi is contingent on the mega-merger completing.

“Asahi aims to expand its growth platform in Europe and become a global player with a distinct position,” the Japanese group said.

Investment bank Rothschild, which acted as sole financial advisor to Asahi, explained the Japanese group beat rivals to the punch by acting pre-emptively and submitting a fully financed, binding offer shortly after other potential buyers tabled non-binding bids.

Other parties understood to be interested included Heineken, C&C Group, Thai Beverage and US-based Molson Coors, which has already agreed to buy SAB’s share in the MillerCoors jv for $12bn, as well as a string of private-equity houses.

“The transaction represented a unique opportunity to acquire a portfolio of leading European premium and craft beer brands and transforms Asahi from an Asia-Pacific focused beer producer to a global premium beer powerhouse,” said Akeel Sachak, global head of consumer at Rothschild.

Asahi, Japan’s second-largest brewer with a 38% share of the domestic market, has been seeking to diversify away from Asia to reduce its exposure to the declining Japanese beer market.

However, analysts of global brewers questioned the “steep” price for the three brands, with an estimated multiple of almost 17x EBITDA, in the face of challenging conditions in European markets.

Carlsberg slumped to a net loss for 2015 of DKK2.6bn (£270m) after DKK8.7bn (£902m) of costs as it started its three-year restructuring programme to combat difficulties in Russia and the UK. But full-year sales rose 1% to DKK65.4bn (£6.8bn) as it was buoyed by strong growth in Asia, which outperformed Eastern Europe for the first time.

Heineken also increased organic revenues by 3.5% to €20.5bn (£15.9bn) as Desperados, Affligem and Sol Premium all recorded double-digit growth, showing the value of a premium proposition. Underlying net profits at the Dutch brewer rose 16% to €2.12bn (£1.65bn) in 2015.

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