Chinese conglomerate Fosun International is taking a large chunk of Tsingtao Brewery Co after Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings said on Wednesday it would sell its entire 19.9 percent stake for a total of 106 billion yen (US$937 million).
TOKYO/HONG KONG: Chinese conglomerate Fosun International is taking a large chunk of Tsingtao Brewery Co after Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings said on Wednesday it would sell its entire 19.9 percent stake for a total of 106 billion yen (US$937 million).
Asahi said in October it was considering selling its stake in Tsingtao, China’s second largest brewer which was founded in 1903 by German and British merchants. Asahi is drawing back from China to focus more on Europe and other Asian markets.
China is the world’s largest beer market by sales, but profits have been harder to come by amid fierce competition between local brewers and global beer giants AB InBev, Heineken NV and Carlsberg .
Asahi has agreed to sell most of its stake – about 243 million shares, equivalent to a 17.99 percent stake – to Fosun and its subsidiaries for HKUS$6.6 billion (US$844 million), Asahi and Fosun said in separate statements.
The remainder, around 27 million shares, will be sold to state-owned Tsingtao Brewery Group for HKUS$735 million, Asahi said.
The sale price of HKUS$27.22 per share was at a 32 percent discount to Tsingtao’s last closing price of HKUS$40 in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, Fosun said.
“Fosun has been able to pick up the shares at a fairly significant discount,” said Ben Cavender, Shanghai-based principal at China Market Research Group, adding there was room to grow both at home and overseas if Fosun could help Tsingtao move up-market.
