Japan’s Kirin and Suntory in possible merger talks

According to a report in the Nikkei business daily, Japanese drinks companies Suntory and Kirin Holdings are negotiating a merger that would create one of the world’s largest beverages makers.

The reports said that the merged entity would be the largest in the Japanese beer and soft drink markets, with combined group sales of ¥3.8tn. The holding company would be bigger than Belgian based Anheuser-​Busch InBev and The Coca-​Cola Company of the US, and on a par with US food and beverage giants PepsiCo Inc and Kraft Foods Inc.

According to the report, Kirin and Suntory hope to strengthen their domestic earnings bases and accelerate expansion in growing overseas markets with the merger.

Kirin said in a statement that while the two companies had cooperated on certain aspects of their businesses, there had been no decision on a tie-​up.

“We have cooperated with Suntory in distribution, procurement and many other fields, but nothing concrete has been decided regarding such a business merger as reported,” said the statement.

A Suntory spokeswoman said it was checking the report, but offered no other immediate comment.

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