Russia: Shareholders in Pikra, Yarpivo and Vena postpone to Q3 the consideration of merger with Baltica

Shareholders in Russia's Pikra, Yarpivo and Vena breweries have postponed to the third quarter the consideration of merger with the country's top brewery Baltika , a Baltika official stated on April 27, according to Reuters.

But the official told Reuters the postponement of the review, which had been due to take place in April or May, would not affect the merger deadline set for the end of 2006.

Baltika is owned by Baltic Beverage Holding (BBH), which is co-owned by Carlsberg and Scottish & Newcastle .

BBH holds majority stakes in the other three Russian breweries but wants to consolidate them to produce annualised savings of $60-80 million within the first year, primarily by cutting the cost of distributing beer. Pikra held its AGM earlier on April 27 and decided not to pay dividends. Net profit of 68.7 million roubles ($2.51 million) will be channelled into developing the firm.