Peru: SABMiller to buy remaining stake in Peru's Backus for USD 478 mln

The world's third-largest beer maker, SABMiller Plc, told reporters that it will make a bid for the voting shares of Peruvian brewery, Union de Cervecerias Peruanas Backus y Johnston SAA that the company does not already control. Cheswick Comercial SA, which holds around 20 % of the class A voting stock in Backus, has agreed to tender its stock.

SABMiller will offer $25.34 in cash for each of the shares, according to a Regulatory News Service statement released today by the London-based company. The London-based group and the U.S. No. 2 brewer Miller, which it bought in 2002, said the cash needed to buy the rest of the stock was expected to be around $478 million.

SABMiller already owns about 79.7% of Backus, Peru's largest brewer, via its merger with Bavaria, the second largest brewer in South America, which was completed earlier this month.

SABMiller has been busy building up a foothold in South America in a bid to rival InBev, the world's largest brewer formed in 2004 when Brazil's AmBev merged with Belgium's Interbrew.

SABMiller now has close on 100% of the markets in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as 90% market share in El Salvador and Honduras leaving InBev with majority stakes in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

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