Russia: SUN Interbrew sells minority interest in JSC "Pivoindustriya Primoriya"

SUN Interbrew, the Russian unit of world’s brewing giant, InBev, announced on July 5 the signing of an agreement on the sale to Alfa-Eco of 36,600,568 ordinary shares, or approximately 29% of the charter capital of JSC "Pivoindustriya Primoriya", a Russian brewery based in Far East.

Commenting on the deal, Joseph W. Strella, CEO, SUN Interbrew, said, "This block of shares of JSC "Pivoindustriya Primoriya" was a financial investment for SUN Interbrew. The divestment of the non-profile assets was aimed at fixing the profit from invested capital and improvement of the company's Russian footprint, with further effective development in mind”.

In such a way Alfa-Eco has become the owner of 97% shares of JSC "Pivoindustriya Primoriya". Russian newspapers said Sun Interbrew sold 29% shares of JSC "Pivoindustriya Primoriya" (PIP) for USD 2.5 million. Two weeks ago Alfa-Eco has repurchased 68% of PIP from Russian company, TzEP CO (this company is controlled by Wimm-Bill-Dann). According to experts, the expansion of Alfa-Eco in Russian beer market is reselling. Earlier the potential customer for PIP was Efes Moscow Brewery, however, by the end of June the deal failed.

Experts estimates the production capacity of PIP at 77 million litres per year (USD 9 million), Russian newspaper revealed.

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