Russia: Acquiring Tinkoff for US$200 mln, InBev will hold 17% of the Russian beer market

The world's biggest brewer InBev is set to buy Russian brewer Tinkoff for around US$200 million to consolidate its number two position in one of the world's fastest growing beer markets, Reuters quoted sources close to the deal posting on Tuesday, June 21. On June 2 sources said: “the deal is estimated to cost up to US$300 million.” The deal is in cash and InBev stock, and includes the brewery near St Petersburg and its beer brands such as Tinkoff and Tekiza, the sources added.

By taking over the St Petersburg-based Tinkoff, owned by its founder Oleg Tinkov, InBev will add an extra 1% to its 16% share of the Russian beer market.

InBev declined comment, but the brewer formed last year from Interbrew's deal to buy Brazil's AmBev, has said it is looking to expand in Russia.

InBev is doing the deal through its Russian subsidiary SUN Interbrew, of which it now owns 99.7 percent after its offer to buy out minority shareholders, and it plans to de-list SUN Interbrew's stock next year.

International brewers are keen to expand in the Russian beer market, which has grown recently at around 10 % annually and is now the fifth largest in the world after China, the United States, Germany and Brazil.

Russian beer consumption is half that of Germany and the Czech Republic, the world's biggest beer drinkers per capita.

Both InBev and Dutch brewer Heineken are looking to close the gap on Russian market leader Baltic Beverage Holding (BBH), which is jointly owned by Britain's Scottish & Newcastle and Denmark's Carlsberg.

BBH, which owns a majority stake in Russia's biggest brewer Baltika, pushed its Russian market share up to 36.1 % in the first-quarter of 2005.

Last month, Heineken agreed to buy Patra, boosting its market share in Russia to 8.3 %, while other big brewers like SABMiller also have a presence.

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