LONDON (Reuters) – Global brewer SABMiller Plc said on Friday its Chinese joint venture had agreed to buy four breweries for $79 million in separate deals to reinforce its leadership of the world’s biggest beer market.
The London-based brewer’s Chinese venture with China Resources Enterprise Ltd., known as CR Snow, will see the deal add to its leadership position in the two provinces of Liaoning and Anhui, and mark its first move into Hunan province.
The venture is buying two breweries in Liaoning, northeast of Beijing, to add to its existing eight breweries and help to relieve capacity constraints, and one in Anhui, just west of Shanghai, to add to its seven breweries already in the province, SABMiller said in a statement.
It is also buying its first brewery in Hunan, southwest of Shanghai, though its Snow beer is sold in the province.
SABMiller, the world’s second-largest brewer, with brands like Miller Lite, Peroni and Pilsner Urquell, first entered China in 1994 through CR Snow and recently become the nation’s biggest brewer, with over 50 breweries with China’s top beer brand Snow.