Obbligazioni societarie Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, SABMiller, Carlsberg: the breweries.

[solenoide]

Le ho prese con la Popolare di Sondrio. Dopo che sono riuscito a spuntarla con il loro (cocciuto) consulente fiscale sulla tassazione delle perpetual ed aver ottenuto il riaccredito del "maltolto", oramai oppongono pochissima resistenza.

Ahhh,
meno male che non sono l'unico ! sara' mica lo stesso che mi sta tirando scemo da due mesi ??? per caso le iniziali sono M.P. consulente anche del Sole24ore?

 

[DinoP]

BRUXELLES (MF-DJ)--Sono scesi del 40% gli utili adjusted di
Anheuser-Busch InBev nel quarto trimestre dell'anno.

Il colosso della birra ha chiuso il periodo con un utile adjusted di 351
milioni di euro, a fronte dei 581 milioni dello stesso periodo dell'anno
precedente e al di sotto delle attese del mercato pari a 502 milioni. Sul
dato hanno pesato l'aumento dei costi di finanziamento e gli oneri legati
al processo di integrazione. Ab InBev ha tuttavia precisato che prevede
che i risparmi legati alla fusione saranno di 2,25 miliardi di dollari
l'anno, una somma maggiore rispetto agli 1,5 miliardi previsti in
precedenza. L'utile netto e' invece crollato del 94% a 49 milioni di euro,
mentre l'Ebitda e' salito del 17% a 1,72 miliardi.
Liv
(fine)


MF-DJ NEWS
05 mar 2009 08:30

trovo ora questa news
da reuters:
* La birra sembra non risentire della crisi, con il leader mondiale ANHEUSER-BUSCH INBEV piatto sui conti trimestrali del quarto trimestre superiori alle attese e la revisione al rialzo dei guadagni legati all'acquisto dell'americana Anheuser-Busch.

su mf-dj si parla di risultati inferiori alle attese.

altro report su Anheuser
faccio una semplice considerazione: il modo di dare le notizie societarie trasmette a chi le legge immagini molto contrastanti della situazione.
Trovo un'analisi abbastanza ascettica di mf, un messaggio improntato all' ottimismo da reuter e l'ansa che da la notizia da un'ottica più tetra.
allora dobbiamo fare 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, un pò di ghiaccio, shakerare e vedere cosa ne esce?

ANSA) - ROMA, 5 MAR - Anheuser-Busch InBev, il piu' grande produttore di birra al mondo, ha visto il proprio utile crollare del 95% a 49 milioni di euro. Nell'ultimo trimestre del 2008 e' sceso in picchiata dai 900 milioni dello stesso periodo dell'anno precedente. La casa produttrice che controlla alcuni dei piu' famosi marchi, dice che la causa e' stata l'acquisizione di Anheuser per 52 miliardi di dollari,riferisce la Bbc, e annuncia il taglio di 2.400 posti di lavoro.

 

[Imark]

Qualche difficoltà per AB Inbev sulla vendita della controllata coreana (il mercato sudcoreano è diviso in due: 60% l'uno e 40% la controllata di AB Inbev), anche perché i soggetti interessati, fra cui SabMiller, ipotizzano un valore per la società pari a poco più della metà di quanto chiesto da AB Inbev.

Peraltro il competitor con il 60% del mercato è quotato in borsa e capitalizza 1,16 trl. won mentre ciò che chiede AB Inbev sono 3 trl won. Il crollo della valuta coreana contro USD concorre a rendere difficoltoso il conseguimento dell'obiettivo di prezzo.

Il successo della recente vendita dei bond fa sì tuttavia, come dichiarato da AB Inbev alla presentazione dei conti 2008 e confermato dagli analisti sentiti dalla Reuters, che la vendita degli asset coreani non sia necessaria per il ripagamento della parte corta del debito contratto nell'acquisto di Anheuser-Busch.

Lascio qui l'articolo, che tornerà utile anche per il futuro...

AB InBev's $2 billion South Korea beer sale getting stale
Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:27am EDT

By Michael Flaherty
HONG KONG (Reuters) - The sale of Anheuser-Busch InBev's (INTB.BR) South Korean beer business appears to be losing its fizz, as buyers baulk at the $2 billion price tag and its owners signal they're in no rush to sell.
AB InBev's auction of Oriental Brewery (OB), which first hit the headlines last September, had been expected to attract a host of bidders, eager to tap around 40 percent of a big Asian beer market.

But ever since AB Inbev launched the deal a few months ago, several hurdles have appeared, including South Korea's deteriorating economy and weakening currency.

Adding further doubts to the process is the uncertainty of Lotte Group's interest. It was viewed as a leading bidder but sources say it's unclear whether Lotte is still in the running.

The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the record.

Another key development was the success of AB InBev's $5 billion bond offering in January. Those proceeds took pressure off the company from having to quickly sell off assets to pay a $7 billion loan due in November.
AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, is proceeding with the OB auction despite the cushion from the debt sale, sources say.

Still, another sticking point on OB is determining what it's worth. While the company has a strong business, some analysts believe its valuation is below the $2 billion mark.

"InBev seems to be looking for a $2 billion bid, but that translates to about 3 trillion won, which sounds like an excessive price," said Jin Yoo, of Goodmorning Shinhan Securities, adding that 2.5 trillion won was more plausible.

Yoo pointed out that the market cap of No.1 brewer Hite (103150.KS) was 1.16 trillion won. South Korea's beer market is a duopoly, with Hite controlling around 60 percent market share.
InBev declined to comment for this article.

Domestic retail giant Lotte Group was viewed by analysts and bankers as a top choice, to not only buy the business, but to pay a good price. Beer would complete Lotte's product line-up, which includes whiskey, and the popular local liquor, soju. That view is cloudy now.

Sources familiar with the matter say it's unclear whether Lotte is even present for the next round of bidding. While anything is possible during the course of an auction -- including the dropping out and return of suitors -- losing a cashed-up, local bidder is probably something AB InBev would rather avoid. Lotte declined to comment.

London-listed SABMiller (SAB.L), the world's second largest brewer after AB InBev, is interested in OB, according to a source familiar with the matter. But the company's valuation of the business is around half of what AB InBev was hoping to get, said the source.

It's unclear where SABMiller stands in the process at the moment. The company declined to comment.

Japan brewers Kirin Holdings (2503.T) and Asahi Breweries Ltd (2502.T) have been mentioned in local and Japanese media as interested in OB. Asahi and Lotte have teamed up previously for acquisition bids, and the two established Lotte Asahi Liquor Co. in 2004.

But a source said that Asahi would only pursue OB if Asahi linked-up with Lotte in a joint bid.

Private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners, MBK Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co have also shown interest in the auction, though getting financing in this market would be tough.

NOT A FIRE SALE

During last week's earnings announcement, AB InBev said it is still committed to divesting $7 billion of non-core assets, saying it could be reached with two to three sales from a list of five to six businesses.
The $7 billion loan due in November is part of the $45 billion in borrowings Belgium-based InBev took out last year to buy U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion.

Cash generation alone might fully cover the remaining $3 billion of the $7 billion loan, the company said, with its CFO adding that the divestitures are not "a fire sale."

That statement may have thrown cold water on the premise that the company was moving quickly to sell OB. It also aimed to underscore AB InBev's message that it won't sell OB for less than what it thinks its Korean business worth.

"The debt refinancing really means that they are not under pressure to sell assets now," said Trevor Stirling of Sanford Bernstein.

Stirling's estimated figures for asset sales are $2.2 billion for OB, $2.6 billion for AB InBev's theme parks, $1.7 billion for its packaging business, and $2 billion for its German beer assets, though those figures are based more on what the company believes the assets are worth, rather than what a buyer would likely pay for them.

Ji Ki-chang, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities in Seoul, estimates an OB valuation of $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion. He said that represents around 13 times OB's 2006-2007 earnings before income, taxes, depreciation and amortization -- a cash flow measure known as EBITDA. The multiple of 13 came from similar valuations of beverage company acquisitions, he said.

A sharp decline in the won currency is another key factor to consider. The won is down 36 percent against the dollar in the past year, denting the dollar earnings of companies in Korea. That alone could play a key role in whether the OB auction ends with a pop or fizzles out.
($1=1510.5 Won)

(Additional reporting by Kim Yeon-hee and Marie-France Han in Seoul, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, David Jones in London and Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo; Editing by Lincoln Feast

 

[Imark]

Le prospettive per il comparto consumer goods nel 2009 secondo S&P.

Earnings Visibility Among European Consumer Goods Players Clouded By Volatile Trading At Year-End 2008, Says Report

LONDON (Standard & Poor's) March 25, 2009--Unusually volatile trading in the fourth quarter of 2008 has reduced revenue and earnings visibility for
European manufacturers of branded consumer goods in 2009, says a report titled "Falling Inventories And Volatile Commodities Spell Uncertainty For Europe's Consumer Goods Industry Profits In 2009," published yesterday by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

"Sales volumes for branded consumer goods declined across the industry in the final quarter of 2008 as a scarcity of corporate credit left the retail sector and wholesalers unwilling to tie up cash in inventory," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Anna Overton. "It remains unclear, however, whether volume and revenue declines posted in the quarter genuinely represent the extent of the decline in consumer demand, or whether the trend was exaggerated.

"Standard & Poor's maintains a base assumption of generally flat revenues in food, beverage, and tobacco in 2009, with the potential for further revenue erosion in the more cyclical durable consumer goods segment. With this in mind, we will continue to monitor consumption volumes across the industry in 2009, as these are an important indicator of short-term consumer demand evolution and consumer goods companies' profitability."

As the report points out, levels of committed returns to shareholders
will in our view define the upturn potential in this financially polarized
sector. While the nondurable (and relatively noncyclical) food, beverage,
tobacco, and personal and household goods manufacturers retain preferential access to funding, durable consumer goods manufacturers remain vulnerable and show widespread signs of financial distress.

We consider that consumer goods companies still rated at the higher end of the 'B' and 'BB' categories are markedly better positioned to weather the rest of 2009 than those that have shown a negative rating transition in the past six months.

At the other end of the rating scale, European food, beverage, and
tobacco companies rated in the 'BBB' and 'A' categories have issued in excess of $17 billion of medium-term bonds in the past six months, denominated in U.S. dollars, euros, British pound sterling, and Swiss francs.

"We maintain our belief that consumer goods companies with the lowest levels of committed shareholder distribution and the highest flexibility to make incremental disposals and acquisitions will be best positioned to benefit from any eventual positive news on consumer spending," said Ms. Overton.

 

[Imark]

La lista delle possibili cessioni di AB Inbev... vediamo, al di là di quelle già effettuate, cosa riusciranno a tirarci fuori realmente.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/tourism/article987405.ece

Will Anheuser Busch InBev sell Busch Gardens ?

By Mark Albright, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, March 27, 2009

The new Belgian owners of Anheuser Busch InBev are reshaping America's biggest brewing empire. But nine months after the deal was done, there's little news on when or whether the theme parks, including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Africa, will be sold.

Last month, InBev executives, who identified the parks as a potential source of cash, told investors they still hope to sell "five or six" business units this year to make a $7 billion debt payment due in November that helped bankroll the $52 billion acquisition.

But the parks — which experts figure could fetch $3 billion — are not alone on the block. And tight credit markets and a suffering theme park industry make a short list of bidders.
"This is not going to be a fire sale," said Felipe Dutran, the chief financial officer who got breathing room by selling $5 billion in bonds in January.

InBev is knee-deep in wheeling, dealing and cost-cutting:

• It's shopping Oriental Brewery, the No. 2 beermaker in South Korea, for $2 billion.

• AB InBev sold U.S. rights to Labatt's to satisfy antitrust concerns, shopped AB's aluminum recycling business and got $667 million for a stake in Tsingtao Brewing in China.

• The German brewing business including Becks could get $1 billion. Some analysts say InBev's Russian unit could go for $4 billion.

• Cost-cutting pared $1 billion in annual expenses at AB, twice the first-year goal.

 

[Imark]

Al 10 aprile la chiusura del secondo round per la vendita degli asset coreani da parte di AB Inbev. A quella data dovranno essere presentate offerte vincolanti, e si vedrà se ci sarà un prezzo considerato soddisfacente da AB Inbev, che ha fatto sapere di escludere la possibilità di accettare offerte nel low range sopra il 1 mld $.

L'EBITDA di OB, pari a 175 mln $, secondo fonti sentite da Reuters, avrebbe giustificato, secondo la prassi recente del comparto, offerte nell'ordine di 10-12x, e quindi molto prossime a quanto chiesto da AB Inbev, ma di questi tempi, a causa anche della caduta del valore dello Won coreano rispetto al USD (che si è portato dietro quello dell'EBITDA una volta espresso in dollari), un tale prezzo sembra difficile da ottenere.

Apparentemente, a restare potenzialmente interessati all'operazione potrebbero essere la coreana Lotte, che sarebbe pronta a rivedere la propria offerta dopo che la prima era stata rigettata da AB Inbev, alcune società di private equity a partire da KKR (la quale è accreditata anche della possibilità di raggiungere un'intesa con altre società di p.e. in seconda battuta per mettere insieme una cordata) e la concorrente SabMiller, quest'ultima in posizione più defilata.

Vedremo se il 10 aprile ne sarà venuta fuori qualcosa...

Lotte back in race for InBev S.Korea unit: sources

Wed Apr 1, 2009 7:19am BST

By Michael Flaherty
HONG KONG (Reuters) - South Korean retail giant Lotte Group is ready to return to the fray and raise its initial offer for Oriental Brewery, which its owner Anheuser-Busch InBev (INTB.BR) values at more than $2 billion, in a new round of bidding due next week, sources said.

Lotte was originally seen as a top contender to buy the South Korean beer business, but its first offer was rejected, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednsday, leaving its role in the auction in doubt.
Beer would complete Lotte's product line-up, which includes popular local liquor soju and whisky. OB would give the buyer a 40 percent share of a major beer market. No.1 brewer Hite (103150.KS) has 60 percent of the market share.

The sources, who did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the issue, declined to say how much Lotte had bid initially or by how much it would increase its offer.
Private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR.UL and MBK Partners are also preparing offers for the auction's second round, the sources said.

London-listed SABMiller (SAB.L), the world's second-largest brewer after AB InBev, also remains in the process, sources said, though it was unclear whether it would submit a second round bid.

Ji Ki-chang, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities in Seoul, said Lotte's initial bid was probably an attempt to buy the company as cheaply as possible.
"If OB is sold at 2 trillion won ($1.46 billion) it will be cheap," he said, adding that 2.5-3 trillion won "would be a reasonable price based on OB's business results, without consideration of foreign exchange rates."

Sources say OB's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), measure of cash flow, is around $175 million.
Given the difficult global lending environment, sources note that a private equity bidder will be hard pressed to submit an offer much above $1 billion.

AB InBev has signaled it will not consider offers in the low $1 billion range. Like any auction, bidders may emerge or drop out, or the process could be scrapped, as AB InBev has signaled it's in no rush to sell Oriental Brewery.

But the company is committed to selling non-core assets and has a $7 billion loan due in November, part of the $45 billion in borrowing InBev took out last year to buy U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion.

AB InBev aims to sell OB for more than $2 billion. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank are running the sale. Lotte Group is seen by analysts and bankers as a top choice to not only buy the business, but to pay what InBev wants.

South Korea's economic climate and currency have picked up in recent weeks, an added boost to the OB sale after it started in the thick of a sharp downturn.

ROUND TWO

One source close to the matter said that if Lotte fails to buy OB, it may pursue a beer license and brewery on its own. That could be damaging to a private equity owner of OB, as private equity relies heavily on financial models and cash flow predictions when financing a deal.

Building a brewery business from scratch and getting government approvals would take time, however.

"It looks like there is almost zero possibility for Lotte to start a third beer brand, considering that the beer industry requires huge investments and marketing costs to penetrate the market dominated by Hite and OB," Ji said.

Merrill Lynch is advising Lotte, Citigroup is advising Affinity, Goldman Sachs is advising KKR and Morgan Stanley is advising MBK, according to the sources.

The banks and firms either declined to comment or could not immediately be reached.

 

[Imark]

Secondo fonti di stampa riprese da Reuters, la deadline per il secondo round di offerte per la vendita della controllata coreana di AB Inbev sarebbe stata spostata. Altre voci vogliono KKR in particolare impegnato nel reperire i fondi per fare un'offerta che possa essere considerata da AB Inbev (che ha escluso di prendere in esame offerte di poco superiori ad 1 mld $).

Il principale candidato all'acquisizione resta tuttavia Lotte, primario player nella GDO sudcoreana. Il vice presidente della società ha confermato la propria intenzione di entrare comunque nel mercato della birra, anche aprendo impianti produttivi propri ove l'asta organizzata da AB Inbev dovesse non vederla prevalere, con una mossa intesa, sempre secondo fonti giornalistiche, ad esercitare pressione sul venditore.

Lotte says to enter beer market by all means-paper

Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:13am BST
SEOUL, April 14 (Reuters) - South Korean retail giant Lotte Group may build a beer brewery to make its foray into the new market, if it loses a battle to buy the country's No. 2 beer maker, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Lotte has been seen as a top candidate to buy unlisted Oriental Brewery (OB) from Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, in a deal estimated to fetch more than $2 billion.

"(We) will start a beer business even by building a plant," Hwang Gak-gyu, a Vice President of Lotte Group, told the Maeil Business Newspaper."We have bought a liquor company. We will start a beer business no matter what we do," he added, referring to a domestic spirits-making brand it acquired earlier this year.

Lotte spokesman Lee Kwang-hoon said he could not confirm Hwang's remarks, which the daily interpreted as a move to put pressure on Anheuser-Busch InBev and other bidders for OB.

Beer would complete Lotte's product line-up, which includes popular local liquor soju and whisky. OB would give any buyer a 40 percent stake in a major beer market in which Hite Brewery commands the other 60 percent.

Private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and MBK Partners were also preparing offers for the auction's second round, sources with knowledge of the deal had said.

The three fund houses could not be immediately reached for comment.

Another newspaper Financial News said on Monday that the April 10 bid deadline for OB had been postponed, due to OB labour union's protest against the sale, citing industry sources.

(Reporting by Kim Yeon-hee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

 

[Imark]

Ultimo aggiornamento sulla vendita della controllata coreana: alla fine, il retailer Lotte, indicato come principale candidato all'acquisizione, è rimasto fuori dalla tornata ultima della gara in quanto anche la sua seconda offerta è stata ritenuta troppo bassa da AB Inbev.

Sarebbero rimaste in gara 3 equity firms: KKR, Affinity Equity Partners ed MBK Partners. Fra queste, pare da indiscrezioni di stampa che KKR (fra le maggiori al mondo per giro di affari) avrebbe ottenuto i finanziamenti a ciò necessari.

UPDATE 1-Lotte bows out of final bid for InBev's OB-source

Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:09pm BST

* Lotte won't submit final bid for OB-source
* Final round of offers due Friday-sources
* Three private equity firms in the running-sources
* Financing critical to getting deal done
(Adds details on lenders, background, byline)
By Michael Flaherty

HONG KONG, April 17 (Reuters) - South Korean retailer Lotte Group will not submit a final offer for Oriental Brewery (OB), a source close to the deal said on Friday, opening the way for a private equity buyer for the country's No. 2 beer company.

The source, along with another source with direct knowledge of the matter, said Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer and the owner of OB, is accepting final offers on Friday for its South Korean brewer, which it values at more than $2 billion.

Private equity firms Affinity Equity Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and MBK Partners, backed by teams of bank lenders across Asia, are expected to submit final bids for OB, the sources said. The sources did not want to be identified because they were not authorised to speak on the record

Lotte's original offer for OB was lower than InBev wanted, sources have said previously, but the retailer later came forward with a revised bid. That too was rejected, the source close to the deal said on Friday, prompting the company to bow out of the final round.

Analysts and bankers saw Lotte as a front-runner to buy OB. The company has a lot of cash on hand, plus beer would complete Lotte's product line-up, which includes popular local liquor soju and whisky.
The sources close to the deal said other strategic buyers had been interested, but the deal now comes down to the three private equity firms.

AB-InBev has committed to selling non-core assets, with a $7 billion loan due in November which was part of the $45 billion in borrowing InBev took out last year to buy U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch.

JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) are running the OB sale process.

DOWN TO FINANCING

With three private equity firms in the hunt, analysts and bankers have questioned whether the firms can get proper financing in this tough banking climate to afford the $2 billion price tag

Buyout firms typically pay one-third in cash for a deal and borrow the rest.

With Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as an adviser, KKR has JPMorgan, Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research), and HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) among its financial backers, as well as Calyon, ING Bank, Natixis and Nomura (8604.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Reuters Basis Point reported.

Affinity has Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as an adviser and financial backer, along with Hana Financial (086790.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), Korea Exchange Bank (004940.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Natixis and Woori Bank, according to Basis Point.

MBK is being advised by Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and has Hana and Korea Development Bank [KDB.UL] behind it, Basis Point said.

All firms named either declined to comment or could not immediately be reached. (Additional reporting by Kim Yeon-hee and Basis Point; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter

 

[Imark]

Poiché, come precisato nel precedente articolo, le equity firms di solito sono finanziate dalle banche per circa i 2/3 del valore dell'acquisizione per gli LBO, e dato che risulta alle fonti sentite da Bloomberg che KKR avrebbe ottenuto finanziamenti per 900 mln $, un analista intervistato dal gruppo editoriale preconizza che la vendita a KKR frutterebbe a AB Inbev circa 1,3 mld $ (contro stime per 2,2 mld $ ed offerte attese per 2 mld $).

A riprova che i tempi sono di vacche magre per i venditori.

Vedremo se AB Inbev accetterà offerte in questo ordine di grandezza, avendo in un primo tempo insistito sul prezzo prossimo ai 2 mld $.

Rammento che le indicazioni in questa Bloomberg non sono precisissime, giacché è vero che c'è un finanziamento corto per 7 mld $ da rimborsare entro novembre per l'acquisto di Anheuser-Busch da parte di InBev, però la società ha coperto con l'emissione dei recenti bond la gran parte del funding occorrente al ripagamento (5mld $ sui 7 complessivi) ed ha ricavato poco meno di 700 mln $ dalla vendita della propria quota di Tsingtiao in Cina alla nipponica Ashai.

Seven Banks Back KKR Bid for AB InBev Korea Beer Unit (Update2)

By Shelley Smith and Sangim Han


April 17 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc are among seven banks backing KKR & Co.’s bid to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s South Korean beer unit, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Calyon, ING Groep NV, Standard Chartered Plc, Natixis SA and Nomura Holdings Inc. also agreed to lend KKR as much as $900 million to finance its bid for Oriental Brewery, said the people, declining to be identified because the information isn’t public.

KKR and Affinity Equity Partners Ltd. were picked to take part in a new round of bidding for Oriental, five people with knowledge of the matter said last month. AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, may have to accept a lower price for the company than the $2 billion it had been seeking, they said.

Oriental “makes sense for KKR because this is a cash-flow generating business in a duopolistic market,” said Gerard Rijk, an analyst for ING in Amsterdam, who estimates the Seoul-based beer maker will sell for about $1.3 billion.

AB InBev, created when InBev bought Anheuser-Busch Cos. for $52 billion last year, faces waning demand for beer as it tries to sell assets to repay debt stemming from the purchase. The Leuven, Belgium-based maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois said on March 5 that it’s aiming for at least $7 billion of disposals after full-year profit dropped 41 percent in 2008.

Lotte Group, the parent of South Korea’s largest beverage maker, won’t join another round of bidding for Oriental today and may instead build a new brewery, a company official who requested anonymity said in Seoul. An initial offer from Lotte had been rejected for being too low, two people said last month.

Beer sales by South Korean brewers rose 9.7 percent to 1.63 trillion won ($1.22 billion) in 2007 after advancing 1.6 percent the year before, according to Hite Brewery Co., the only other Korean producer.

Joshua Goldman-Brown, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for KKR, declined to comment on the New York-based private equity company’s funding arrangements.

 

[Imark]

Intanto allungano i tempi di pagamento ai fornitori da 30 a 120 gg... come obbligazionista sono contento di come stanno andando le cose con il bond, ma se fossi uno di quelli che gli vende il malto, andrei a dargli fuoco agli stabilimenti... e vediamo di capire come stanno andando le vendite... oggi indiscrezioni di stampa darebbero per certe offerte delle equity firms nell'ordine di grandezza gradito a AB InBev... ci credo poco, ma il tempo sarà galantuomo...

Belgium to investigate AB InBev over payment delays

Sun Apr 19, 2009 4:28am EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian Economy Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has asked the competition authority to investigate whether Anheuser-Busch InBev (INTB.BR) has abused its dominant position in delaying payments to suppliers.

The world's largest brewer, maker of Budweiser, Stella and Beck's, plans to change its terms of payment to 120 days from receipt of invoice from 30 days previously in response to the challenging economic environment.

"We must see whether malt producers, the suppliers of brewer AB InBev, are in a position that they have no other option. If that's the case then it could be abuse of a dominant position," Van Quickenborne told Belgian public broadcaster VRT.

The minister had asked the competition authority on Saturday to look into the matter, his spokesman said on Sunday.

AB InBev said that it was not the only multinational to have reviewed its terms of payment and that it was willing to help suppliers adjust to the new system.

InBev bought U.S. rival Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion last year and took on an initial $45 billion in debt that it is seeking to clear.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)