Cisneros Group, the Venezuelan media combine, made an investment in Latin American beer market by purchasing 16% of the voting shares of the Peruvian brewer, Backus & Johnson, for the amount of about $ 200 million. The company already owns the Venezuelan brewer, Regional.

Backus & Johnson with its main brands Cusquena, Cristal and Pilsen occupies a monopoly position in Peru and is the sixth largest brewer in Latin America, the sales in 2001 being around $507 million.

The other two owners of Backus & Johnson are the Colombian brewing group, Bavaria, which enlarged its stake with 22% of Backus voting shares for $420 million last week and the Venezuelan brewing giant, Empresas Polar, which purchased 12.8% of Backus class-A shares for about $110 million in November 2001, taking its stake in Backus to about 23.5%.

24 July, 2002