Dublin, London - SABMiller, the world's second-biggest brewer, agreed to buy Aurora to add a fourth beer maker in Romania and get more benefit from growing consumer spending in eastern Europe.
SABMiller will buy 81.1 percent of Aurora, boosting its stake to 90 percent prior to completion of the purchase by acquiring additional shares, according to a Regulatory News Service statement from the London-based company. The value of Aurora's net assets is about $16.2 million (R113 million).
"The acquisition builds on our strategy of optimising and expanding our positions in developing markets," chief executive Graham Mackay said in the statement.
SABMiller, like Heineken and Interbrew, is expanding through acquisitions in eastern Europe. Russia and China as growing economies in the region fuel consumer demand for beer. The Romanian beer market expanded by 12 percent last year.
Shares of SABMiller fell R2.60 to close at R73.40 in Johannesburg yesterday.
The stock has risen 5.1 percent this year, compared with a gain of 13 percent for the nine-member Bloomberg Europe beverages index.
SABMiller, which already has Romanian breweries in Cluj-Napoca, Buzau and Timisoara, will boost its market share in the country to about 20 percent from 15.3 percent by acquiring Aurora.
The company sells Ursus Premium, Timisoreana Lux, Miller Genuine Draft and Czech beer Pilsner Urquell in Romania.
Aurora, based in Brasov in central Romania, owns one brewery and has a 5.2 percent share of the country's beer market. The plant has annual sales of 659 000 hectolitres. Its main beer brand is Ciucas.
SABMiller last week bid HK$3.04 billion (R2.75 billion) for China's Harbin Brewery Group, challenging Anheuser-Busch in what may be the country's first hostile takeover battle.
Harbin expects China's $6 billion (R42 billion) market to grow 6 percent a year this decade.
SABMiller began two new television advertisements on Saturday to counter recent commercials by Anheuser-Busch, which told beer drinkers to "Choose on Taste" the Wall Street Journal reported.
One new SABMiller ad refers to the Bud Light slogan and concludes, "All we can say is, thanks for the endorsement," the paper reported.