E-Malt.com News article: 2052

German brewer Brau und Brunnen is gearing up for a buying spree, its chief executive has told a newspaper. "In the next six to eight weeks there will be two to three takeovers -- they will be real smackers," Chief Executive Michael Hollmann told German daily Die Welt in an article, according to Reuters, January 18. He said that Brau und Brunnen, Germany's fourth-largest brewer whose brands include Jever and Schultheiss, had the financial muscle to make such moves.

Hollmann said that the company could use up to 35 million euros (24 million pounds) of its own shares to make acquisitions, adding it also still had "plenty of room" in terms of debt.

Brau und Brunnen, a long-touted takeover candidate itself, said in December that HVB, which owns 56 percent in the Dortmund-based brewer, remained committed to the company after sale talks with a U.S. private equity house collapsed.
Hollmann said on Sunday he expected the bank to sell the stake sometime. "I will not rule out that Brau und Brunnen could be brought into a partnership in 2005 and remain independent."

He said the ideal shareholder would be an international brewer which wanted to build up a business in Germany and listed SAB, Scottish & Newcastle, Anheuser Busch, Ambev and Carlsberg as possibilities.

Germany, home to the internationally famous Oktoberfest beer festival, has one of the world's largest and most fragmented beer markets, a sector which is slowly consolidating as the world's top brewers jostle for a leading position.
A shake-up of the industry has been widely expected since Belgian giant Interbrew moved into the market earlier this year and unseated Holsten Brauerei as the country's biggest brewer with a series of buys including the Loewenbrau and Beck's brands.

Hollmann said the firm expected operating profit of over 20 million euros in 2004 and said it would again pay a dividend in 2005. The firm has said it expects to make a small operating loss in 2003.


20 January, 2004