Anheuser-Busch InBev selling off Asian breweries; Did it make a “brilliant” move along the way?
Not too long ago, Anheuser-Busch’s minority investment (roughly 27 percent) in Chinese brewer Tsingtao Brewery Co. was a pretty big deal at One Busch Place. After all, Tsingtao was the second-largest brewer in China, which in turn was the world’s largest beer market.
Now, Anheuser-Busch InBev is pulling out of Tsingtao completely in order to raise money and pay off debt. The world’s biggest brewer announced today that it will sell its remaining 7 percent stake in Tsingtao to Chinese investor Chen Fashu for $235 million.
The company had already agreed to sell a 19.9-percent stake in Tsingtao for about $667 million.
ABI’s Asain brewing assets seem to be dropping like flies as the company tries to pay down debt from InBev’s takeover of Anheuser-Busch last November. The company is also selling its South Korean unit Oriental Brewery to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the U.S. private equity group, for 1.8 billion dollars.
Of course, that deal contains some fine print that again shows ABI’s shrewdness. To wit: Anheuser-Busch InBev has the right to reacquire Oriental Brewery within five years after selling it, at pre-determined financial terms.
In other words, “if ABI’s balance sheet is cleaned up by then, they can get the brewery back,” trade publication Beer Business Daily observed. “This is interesting because, in essence, ABI has really just secured an off-balance sheet five year loan of $1.8 billion, secured by the Korean business. Brilliant.”
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...
Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
Wonder why buy something to sell all its assets to pay for it? Sorry for the ab guys and gals who lived over there or had to visit 6 times a year eating duckheads and peeing behind tent city. Put a pin in a map and track the liquidation across the globe from China and Korea to StL. These won’t hurt…we don’t know them and its in Asia. When the packaging group and bec get shuttled…for pennies on the dollar, that will hurt. I am gonna sell the porch on my new house to help pay my mortgage.
BEC is being outsourced as we speak. also peacock promising that they are done cutting jobs in marketing just recently……… wait till mid august to beggining of Oct. and then you can see this birds true colors. And yes I bet the plan is there now for then, All is about what metrics they achieve or do not achieve this summer I bet.again only a guess
Oh and don’t bet that the American Businessman Roberts doesn’t already have in place in Korea a way to block this if the PRE DETERMINED amount is not the intrest % he thought the small print said for the money that he bought this for.I dont think anyone trust A-B inbev. Yes it is off the Books loan, however there is a primuem to be paid on the 1.8 B buyout price that is higher than the intrest payments on there existing loan. I am only guessing at this .
but “pre determined” sounds like % of intrest added to the 1.8 billion non book loan if A-B wants it back to me. Yes they did find a way to get a billion dollars, but now roberts gets the profit for 5 years from one of the biggest beer drinking communities in the world and if they want it back it will cost them. BIG TIME. BRILLIANT?????????? who A-B indebt. Or Roberts. I vote for the second one. Getting desperate yet Carlos?
wow: You state that BEC is being outsourced as we speak. Will you elaborate on that? Thousands of employees would love to know. If it’s hallway gossip, please don’t. We’ve already got enough of it.
Yes…pls send more info on any facts supporting the out-source statement. Seems like they have been left alone from the beer guys. Worried about when they realize BEC/WOD has roughly 20,000 employees…Many seasonal to make it work during the peak season. That is a big number and it won’t take much incentive for leadership to cut 5-8,000 of these. They are on the sales block right now but their segment is dying with 6 Flags collapsing first. Animals are expensive to maintain even when the parks are closed. Heard aabiii can’t even wander the park without permission.Understandable since most of us wouldn’t open our home door to the former owner. Tighten the chinstrap and get ready.
BEC outsourced???? C’mon, give me a break!!!! How can you “outsource” what you physically needed in the parks, “people”????? You can’t outsource jobs like those to another company. Now if your talking about the jobs that are all done from a desk/computer, yes - outsourcing could happen, but you have to make sure the job doesn’t include proprietary information. People need to post what the KNOW, not what they THINK or HEAR that isn’t fact based.