Danish brewing force, Carlsberg Breweries A/S has entered into conditional agreements to acquire 51% of the share capital in Holsten-Brauerei AG at € 38 per share from the Eisenbeiss family and other parties, the company announced on January 20. Carlsberg Breweries will make a voluntary public offer at the same price to buy all outstanding shares. “Carlsberg Breweries, is offering to acquire Holsten-Brauerei AG for a total enterprise value of € 1,065 million,” the company said.

At the same time, an agreement has been made to sell the breweries of König-Brauerei in Duisburg and Licher Privatbrauerei in Lich to the Bitburger Group at a price of € 469 million on an enterprise value basis. Furthermore, Carlsberg Breweries has been granted an option which provides Holsten with the right to sell its 65% shareholding in mineral water companies at an implied enterprise value of € 159 million. This means Holsten will be in a position to on-sell assets at a total enterprise value of € 628 million.

Following the divestments, Carlsberg Breweries will be the leading brewer in the north of Germany and the 5th largest brewery group in Germany. Carlsberg Breweries will keep the Holsten brewery in Hamburg and four other Holsten breweries with a total production capacity of 7.9 million hl beer, the internationally renowned beer brand Holsten and regional beer brands such as Lübzer, Feldschlösschen, Astra, Landskron and the speciality brand Duckstein.

Germany is the largest beer market in Europe. With the acquisition of Holsten-Brauerei, Carlsberg Breweries becomes the leading brewery and market leader in northern Germany with a market share of 35% in Schleswig-Holstein/Hamburg, 25% in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 12% in Lower Saxony/Bremen and 12% in Saxony. These market positions will become the natural extension of Carlsberg Breweries’ leading position in the Nordic region.

An important strategic goal of Carlsberg Breweries is to strengthen and develop its main brands, particularly the Carlsberg brand. Holsten’s strong distribution network and sales force in Germany offers a platform through which the Carlsberg and Tuborg brands will be able to expand. In addition, Holsten’s existing international presence will further enhance Carlsberg Breweries’ export and licence business. By including the Holsten brand in Carlsberg-Tetley’s distribution network, the UK business will be strengthened.

Revenue and cost synergies are expected to be € 7 million in 2004, € 14 million in 2005 and €17 million in 2006. 30% of the synergies are expected to derive from increased sales of branded volume and 70% from procurement, IT and other cost savings. Holsten's well-developed sales functions and distribution platform will contribute to increased sales of the Carlsberg and Tuborg brands. Through cooperation with Carlsberg-Tetley, sales of the Holsten brand are expected to increase in the UK market and throughout the Carlsberg Breweries platform globally.


Holsten-Brauerei was founded in 1879 in Hamburg, and since then it has grown to become Germany's second largest brewery through acquisitions of other breweries, export and licence agreements. Export production account for 1.1m hl of total production, and in addition foreign licence production amounts to 0,6 m hl.

According to the most recent global brand report (2002) from the international research institute Canadean a growth rate of 8.4% makes Carlsberg the fastest growing international beer brand in the world. Holsten ties for second place with Stella Artois (8%), and the Tuborg brand is no. 4 with a growth rate of 7.6%.

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