Thai Beverage and AB InBev line up to invest in Sabeco – reports

AB InBev, Thai Beverage and Kirin Holdings are among brewing companies that are preparing to make a bid for Vietnamese brewery Sabeco, Reuters reports.

With the auction set to take place on 18 December, potential bidders who aim on buying 25% or more of Sabeco, which is Vietnam’s largest brewer, need to inform authorities a week before it takes place.

Foreign ownership of the company is limited to 49% and foreign investors can only bid for as much as 39%, as overseas entities already own 10%.

Sabeco is planning to launch one to two new products next year and increase its market share, CEO Nguyen Thanh Nam has told investors.

Owning the Saigon Beer and 333 Beer brands, state-owned Sabeco has also attracted interest from Heineken – which already owns 5% of the company – as well as San Miguel.

The Vietnamese government also plans to sell of its Habeco company. Carlsberg said earlier this year that it aims to increase its holding from 17% to at least a majority stake, with a view to taking over the whole operation.

Carlsberg CEO Cees ‘T Hart told investors that Carlsberg was ‘still waiting for the reaction of the government’ with regards to a deal.

In July Anheuser-Busch’s Australian subsidiary, Carlton & United Breweries, told Vietnamese government officials that the company is interested in becoming a ‘strategic’ investor in the Habeco and Sabeco breweries.

Beer consumption is expected to increase in Vietnam from a volume of almost 3.9 billion litres in 2015 to just over 4 billion litres this year – up 4.1% – according to research from Euromonitor International.