From Italian to English, from English to Japanese. After the trip across the Channel, Peroni Beer could set sail for the Rising Sun. Asahi Group Holdings, a multinational based in Tokyo, aims to buy the Italian brand from the British Sat Miller, which took over Peroni in 2003 and is today the second group in the world in the sector.
According to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri, Asahi is expected to bid this week to get its hands on the Italian beer and the Dutch Grolsch, another brand of the SabMiller galaxy. The total value of the operation should be around 3,12 billion euros. With this move, Asahi would aim to strengthen its presence in Europe, which is currently weak.
In the race for Grolsch and Peroni, foreign brewers and investment funds should also take the field. If Asahi's offer goes through, it would be the largest overseas purchase in history by a Japanese brewer, exceeding the approximately 2,57 billion euros (330 billion yen) spent by Kirin Holdings in 2009 on buy Australian producer Lion Nathan.
At the beginning of December the Belgian-US multinational AbInbev (owner, among other things, of the Budweiser and Corona brands) had confirmed the need to sell the historic Italian brand (and not only) to obtain the green light from the EU topurchase of SabMiller. The maxi merger, with an estimated value of approximately 70 billion pounds (over 112 billion euros), will be one of the most significant of all time and will give life to a giant capable of producing over 60 billion liters a year, with a 30% share of the global beer market.
