The Dutch brewing group, Heineken, is strengthening its position in South-America and the Balkans, according to a report made by the company on January 14.

Chili: Heineken has agreed with the Schörghuber Corporate Group to acquire Schörghuber's 50% stake in IRSA, the company that controls the Chilean brewer CCU. Schörghuber holds indirectly a 50% stake in IRSA, while Quiñenco owns the other 50% of IRSA, which has a controlling stake of 62% in the leading Chilean brewer CCU. “With the consent of Quiñenco, Heineken will buy the 50% stake in IRSA that is currently indirectly held by Schörghuber. Heineken and Quiñenco will thus become partners in the joint venture IRSA. As part of this transaction, Heineken intends to transfer the licensing agreements to produce the Heineken brand in Chile and Argentina to CCU as soon as practically possible,” the company said.

Argentina: Heineken has agreed with the Argentinean brewer Quilmes that it will terminate its license agreements and that it will sell its 15% stake in Quilmes to the controlling shareholder BAC, whilst agreeing to settle all disputes and claims outstanding in the pending arbitration proceeding between Heineken and Quilmes. “This will lead to an extraordinary net profit of EUR 73 million for Heineken in 2003,” the company reported. “The sale to BAC will be subject only to the closing of the transaction announced by Quilmes and AmBev in May 2002.”

Croatia: Simultaneously Heineken has agreed with SBE (Southern Breweries Establishment, a joint venture of which CCU owns 50%), to acquire a controlling stake of 68.8% in the Karlovacka brewery in Croatia. With a domestic market share of 19% and an annual beer volume of around 850,000 hectolitres, Karlovacka Pivovara is the number two brewer in Croatia. Karlovacka Pivovara is listed on the stock exchanges of Zagreb and Varazdin, Croatia.

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