Carlsberg exits Tibet joint venture

Carlsberg has reached an agreement to offload its stake in its Tibet-based Lhasa Brewery joint venture.

In a short statement to Just Drinks, the Danish beer major confirmed it had struck a deal to offload its 50% holding to its “joint venture partner” Tibet Development.

According to a filing from Tibet Development with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Friday (30 January), the transaction is worth 292m yuan ($42m).

Tibet Development will own 100% of Lhasa Brewery, also known as Tibet Lhasa Brewery Co., once the transaction is completed.

In the SSE filing, the group said the deal will “improve the integrity of the listed company’s assets” and “enhance” its “management and control over Lhasa Beer”.

Tibet Development said its full ownership of the Lhasa business would also “improve decision-making efficiency, optimise the overall business layout, consolidate and enhance market position, and meet the company’s strategic development needs”.

Carlsberg did not say why it had decided to offload the stake. The news comes ahead of its annual results announcement on Wednesday (4 February).

In 2024, the Tuborg brewer booked an impairment for its investment in the Lhasa business which resulted in a DKr66m ($10.47m) write-down.

Three years earlier, Carlsberg also recorded a DKR244m impairment linked to the stake.

In its 2021 annual report, the group said “disputes” around “the management of Tibet Lhasa Brewery resulted in significant disturbances to the operation of the company, which negatively impacted financial performance”.

Reports from financial publication Nikkei Asia suggest Carlsberg had initially agreed to sell its stake to another buyer in 2023, called Daohe Industy. The deal, however, was reportedly declined by Tibet Development and headed to court. A final ruling found in favour of Tibet Development.

In its January stock exchange filing, Tibet Development said it had been in talks with Daohe, “a party to Carlsberg International’s preemptive right to purchase 50% of Lhasa Beer’s equity”, and had agreed to settle the dispute for 35m yuan.