Chilean brewer CCU has announced it would receive a 19.7 billion pesos ($27.1 million) extraordinary profit from the sale of assets in Croatian brewer Karlovacka Pivovara to Dutch beer maker Heineken, Reuters reported. CCU held a 50% stake in the Southern Breweries Establishment (SBE) which in turn controlled 68% of Karlovacka Pivovara.

SBE said it had closed the sale of its controlling stake in the Croatian brewery to Heineken for EUR 82.5 million ($89.1 million), which it announced in January. CCU Director Patricio Jottar said in a statement that the extraordinary profit would be reflected in its first quarter results this year. The sale is the latest in a series of complex asset and ownership shifts involving the Chilean brewer.

In January Chilean financial and industrial conglomerate Quinenco announced it had settled a two-year legal dispute with German brewer Schorghuber over the control of CCU. ($1 = 726 Chilean pesos)

03 April, 2003