The Turkish brewer Efes Breweries International N.V (EBI), purchased majority stake in Serbian brewer Pancevo, based outside Belgrade, Turks.us reported on August 16. Turkish brewer purchased 63 % of Pancevo for $6.5 million cash, and became the first international brewer investing in Serbia, said the source. The money will be invested in product quality and technical infrastructure. Efes said that the number of countries the company is involved rose to six after Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

Pancevo produces and sells three brandnames ''Weifert'', ''Karsten'' and ''Standart'' in Serbia.

Efes said: “In Serbia, the whole market is dominated by domestic producers and more than 470 million litres of beer was sold in 2002 and per capita beer consumption is around 58 liters.”

Pancevo is expected to reach 50 % capacity utilization rate this year, and raise production capacity with $10 million investment from its annual 40 million liters capacity, Efes said.

Efes purchased 63 % of Pancevo for $6.5 million, and became the first international brewer investing in Serbia. On August 6 the Istanbul Stock Exchange announced that Efes acquired the Russian Amstar Brewery, thanks to a US$25m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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