July 14 – Japanese beverage giant, Kirin has confirmed that it is currently at the initial stage of business merger discussions with rival Suntory to strengthen overseas expansion plans and make it the region’s largest maker of beer.
If the merger is successful, the Japanese company will overtake Coca-Cola as the largest beverage company in the world. Both companies had a combined sales revenue of US$40.9 billion last year compared to Coca-Cola’s US$31.9 billion.
Kirin has been slowly laying the ground for its overseas markets in the past years, buying Australian brewer Lion Nathan for US$7 billion and a fifty percent stake of the Philippine’s San Miguel Brewery.
“This would be a huge, global beverage company to rival the likes of AB InBev and Coca-Cola,” Andy Smith, head of equities at ICAP Plc in London, told Bloomberg. “You’d probably see a combined company investing more outside of Japan.”
Osaka-based Suntory was established in 1899 and now has businesses ranging from whisky, beers and soft drinks as well as health food, food services and flowers. The company has a 12 percent stake in Japan’s beer market. Kirin also has a long history in the beverage industry starting in 1907 in Yokohama and has also since expanded the company to include food, soft drinks and pharmaceuticals.
