South Korea: Hite Brewery down on worries over Carlsberg's stake sale

Hite Brewery Co. dropped 2.70 % to 144,400 won after an executive said on Sunday Danish brewer Carlsberg might sell its remaining 13.1 percent stake, valued at $360 million, in South Korea's biggest beer maker, Asia News posted on December 12.

Carlsberg had asked Hite if it was interested in buying back the stake, the Hite executive told Reuters, but said the domestic brewery had not yet made a decision.

The possible sale comes after the world's sixth-biggest brewer sold around half of its stake in Hite earlier this month in a deal generating net proceeds of about 1.9 billion Danish crowns ($300 million).

After that sale, Carlsberg's ownership in Hite was cut to 13.1 percent, which had a market value of 372.2 billion won ($359.8 million) based on Friday's closing price. The broader index was up 1.17 percent.

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