Brazil: The creation of Inbev approved by Brazilian government antitrust division

The creation of the world's largest brewery Inbev was unanimously approved on June 15 by Brazilian government antitrust division (Cade), Brazil’s Agência Estado cited a representative of the division at the Justice Ministry.

“The merger between South America's largest brewery Ambev and Belgian's Interbrew through a stock exchange - which was approved by stockholders in August last year - didn't represent risks to market competition in Brazil,” said Muniz Prado, Cade}s head counsel for the case.

Ambev leads the Brazilian beer market with 67.3% market share and a range of 24 different beer brands and soft drinks. Meanwhile, Interbrew has 173 brands on the world market, but most of these brands are little-known on the Brazilian market, said Prado. That means that the new company would still have to mount huge marketing campaigns to promote Interbrew's brands - just as if it were launching new brands on the marketplace, he added.

Rival Brazilian brewery Schincariol - which contested the merger between Ambev and Interbrew - was not present at today's session.

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