Beijing Yanjing Brewery planning stake sale to foreign investor
Beijing Yanjing Brewery, China's third-largest beermaker, plans to sell about a 20 per cent stake to a foreign strategic partner, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Beijing Yanjing Brewery, China's third-largest beermaker, plans to sell about a 20 per cent stake to a foreign strategic partner, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company, backed by the Beijing municipal government, has reached out to potential investors including overseas brewers, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private.
The stake could be valued at about US$700 million based on Yanjing's current share price, according to data.
President Xi Jinping has been encouraging state-owned enterprises to bring in outside investors and boost competitiveness as part of the nation's most sweeping economic reforms since 1978.
Such a deal would give Yanjing, the only major Chinese brewer without an overseas partner, access to foreign know-how and technology to counter slowing sales growth in the world's second-largest economy.
Yanjing shares rose 1.7 per cent to 7.93 yuan (HK$9.99) in Shenzhen yesterday, giving the company a market value of US$3.6 billion.
An official in Yanjing's investor relations department, who would not give her name, said she was not aware of the plan.
State-backed China Resources Enterprise produces the nation's best-selling Snow Beer through a joint venture with British brewer SABMiller.
Tsingtao Brewery, the country's second-largest beermaker, is 19.99 per cent owned by Japan's Asahi Breweries, according to its annual report for the year 2013.
Anheuser-Busch acquired control of Harbin Brewery Group, based in the so-called Ice City in the mainland's northeast, for US$738 million in 2004, data showed. The Harbin brand is now sold by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which took over Anheuser-Busch in 2008.
Yanjing is controlled by Hong Kong-listed Beijing Enterprises Holdings, whose largest shareholder is an investment arm of the capital city's government, according to the Beijing Enterprises annual report.
Sales at Yanjing rose 3.8 per cent to 12.7 billion yuan for the nine months ended September, while the sales of larger competitor Tsingtao increased 6.4 per cent to 27.6 billion yuan for the period.
