Colombia: 70% stake of Colombia’s biggest quoted drinks group, Empresarial Bavaria, is controlled by Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Colombia’s top businessman, which is now being courted by some of the world’s biggest brewers who want to tango with him. Among them is SAB Miller, the £8.6 billion London- domiciled South African brewer, which along with Inbev has led the industry’s global consolidation. The Times Online revealed on January 23.
Inbev is the most obvious buyer of the $6 billion-plus (£3.2 billion) company. Ownership would give it domination of South America, but success is not guaranteed. Since Inbev entered the market it has ruffled feathers after staging price wars against smaller brewers. Inbev’s presence has made other South American brewers look at their options. Do they sell or take on the interlopers? Domingo, who has expanded aggressively in recent years, has decided to take the money.
Graham Mackay, SAB’s chief executive, wants to fulfil that wish, and his group has the headroom to take on an extra $3 billion of debt to part-fund the deal, according to The Times Online. Since Mackay listed SAB five years ago, he has jumped from the world’s fifth-largest brewer to the second biggest. Empresarial Bavaria would take him to the top. As the world’s brewers consolidate, Mackay has found himself playing in a salle privée — the chips are bigger and there are only a limited number left with the funds to play with him.
Buying Empresarial Bavaria is not his only option. He could bid for Scottish & Newcastle — but not at this price — a deal that would be free of regulatory intervention. The biggest frustration for Mackay is his share price. It may have jumped from 534p to 805p in the past year, but for a company targeting emerging markets it does not have the rating it would have if its primary listing was in New York. A number of US investors have been buying up SAB’s stock, but the British traditionally see brewing as a defensive play. That is not Mackay’s view — he believes SAB should have the same rating as that enjoyed by the fast-moving consumer-goods sector.
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