Brewer Carlsberg to Unify Its Ex-Soviet Ops

Danish brewer Carlsberg wants to unite its operations in the CIS, including major East European asset and top Russian brewer Baltika.

Carlsberg this year hooked up with
Dutch peer Heineken to buy Britain's Scottish & Newcastle (S&N)
for 7.8 billion pounds ($14.85 billion). The deal secured Carlsberg
all of eastern European venture Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH),
including control of its crown jewel, Baltika.
Unifying
Carlsberg's ex-Soviet operations would include the exchange of
technologies, knowledge, experience and best practices.
Baltika
sold 44.3 million hectolitres of beer last year and in the first half
of 2008 had a 38 percent share of the Russian beer market.
Carlsberg
has no plans to completely own Baltika, or merge it with other CIS
assets, Carlsberg will keep Baltika as a listed company."
Unifying
assets could also create a merger possibility in Kazakhstan. The
Baltika-owned company in Kazakhstan and the Carlsberg-owned Derbes
brewer are separate entities. Derbes is currently expanding to take
its production capacity to 2.5 million hectoliters from its current
2.0 million.