Romania: Interbrew Efes Brewery and Interbrew Romania will merge to form InBev Romania as of March 2007

By March 2007, Interbrew Romania, the local branch of the world leader InBev, will have completed its merger with Interbrew Efes Brewery, which was bought out in its entirety by InBev this year, Ziarul Financiar posted October 19. After the merger is complete, Interbrew Romania will be re-branded as InBev Romania.

"So far, Interbrew Efes Brewery and Interbrew Romania have been two separate companies, but as of March 2007, they will merge to form InBev Romania," said Liviu Irimia, marketing manager of Interbrew.

In May this year, InBev paid €20.8 million euros to Efes Breweries International to acquire 49.99% in their Ploiesti-based subsidiary, Interbrew Efes Brewery. Thus, InBev reached a 100% stake in Interbrew Efes Brewery. The beer plant in Ploiesti has a production capacity of 1.8 million hectolitres a year. After a 36% increase in sales in the first half, Interbrew representatives revised estimates on this year's total sales upwards.

"The progression of the beer market as a whole has exceeded our expectations, increasing by 17-18% against a 5-6% estimate. At the beginning of the year, we set out to grow both in volume and in value by over 10%. Having exceeded our target in the first six months of the year, we are now expecting higher growth," added Liviu Irimia.