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Asahi Breweries Says It Isn't Bidding for InBev's Korean Unit
Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan's top- selling beermaker, said it wasn't planning to bid for InBev NV's South Korean unit after Belgium's Le Soir newspaper reported it was conducting due diligence on the business.
The Tokyo-based brewer wasn't examining the books of InBev's Oriental Brewery unit and hadn't spoken to InBev about the business, Asahi spokesman Takayuki Tanaka said today. He declined to comment on whether Asahi was interested in bidding for the unit.
``We would like to monitor trends in the South Korean beer market,'' Tanaka said by telephone, declining to elaborate.
Asahi is close to completing due diligence and making an offer for the InBev unit, Le Soir reported on the weekend. InBev wants to sell the South Korean unit to help fund its takeover of Anheuser-Busch Cos., the report said, without citing anyone.
Oriental Brewery wasn't immediately able to comment on the report. The Korean unit said last month its Belgian parent had no plans to sell it.
Asahi, which sells InBev brands in the Japan market, is seeking to increase sales overseas to offset declining demand in its home market. Japan's beer shipments fell to the lowest last year since at least 1992 as younger consumers switched to wine and other beverages.
InBev, the maker of Stella Artois and Beck's, has said it plans to sell ``non-core'' assets to help fund its $52 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch that it expects to complete by the end of the year.
In 2004, InBev paid 612 million euros ($823 million) to boost its stake in Oriental, the second-largest brewer in South Korea, to 95 percent from 50 percent. The company has about 40 percent of the local market, trailing Hite Brewery Ltd., and sold about 6.9 million hectoliters of beer in 2007, accounting for 2.5 percent of InBev's total volume.
InBev said in August that its South Korean unit had a ``solid'' first half, with volume rising 4.8 percent and market share increasing.
written on 19.10.2008 um 05:29.
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