Anheuser-Busch InBev SA , the world's largest brewer, has agreed to purchase South Korea's Oriental Brewery Co Ltd from KKR & Co and Affinity Equity Partners for $5.8 billion including debt, regaining ownership of a key Asian asset at a time of strong growth in the industry across the region.The deal, Asia's biggest ever private equity sale through an acquisition, comes one week after Japan's Suntory Holdings agreed to buy Beam Inc for $13.6 billion, with the transactions underscoring rapid consolidation in the global liquor industry.Carlsberg, Heineken NV and SABMiller Plc have also struck deals in Asia over the past five years, lured by the region's $258 billion market that is growing twice as fast as the rest of the world.Leaven, Belgium-based AB InBev sold Oriental Brewery in 2009 for $1.8 billion to KKR, as part of its efforts to ease the debt burden incurred in the $52 billion acquisition of U.S. beer maker Anheuser-Busch by InBev a year earlier. KKR agreed to pay around $800 million in cash for OB and the rest in debt, later splitting the cash portion with Affinity roughly in half.
Beam Inc. (Beam) is a premium spirits company that makes and sells branded distilled spirits products in markets worldwide. Shares of BEAM fell by 0.22% or $-0.18/share to $83.34. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $59.66 and as high as $83.65. On average, 1610380 shares of BEAM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 5024616.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, formerly Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is a brewing company. Shares of BUD fell by 1.91% or $-1.98/share to $101.47. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $83.94 and as high as $106.83. On average, 1136470 shares of BUD exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2721091.
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