Germany: Warsteiner is to take over Altbierbrauer Frankenheim

The third largest German private brewery, Warsteiner, confirmed on Monday, May 2, it is in negotiations to take over the D�sseldorf based brewery, Altbierbrauer Frankenheim, according to a spokesman of Warsteiner. It is not clear yet when the deal is to be over, he said.

However, German newspaper, "Welt am Sonntag" posted that Warsteiner will take over Altbierbrauer Frankenheim for EUR 10 million. According to the same source, Albert Cramer, the owner of Warsteiner, and Peter Frankenheim are to sign the deal this week.

Besides Warsteiner, Veltins, Bitburger and Krombacher were interested in Altbierbrauer Frankenheim dated back in 1873. Warsteiner with its beer sales of about 5.6 million hl per year is the third biggest private brewery in Germany after Krombacher and Bitburger.

During the last few years a wave of beer market consolidation has been running in Germany as a reaction to the German beer market decline.