Harbin Beer Group has acquired three breweries to double production and plans to list in Hong Kong to raise money to overtake China Resources Enterprises (CRE), the country's third-biggest beer producer.
A company spokesman said it paid 245 million yuan (about HK$229 million) to buy breweries in Jiamusi, Mudanjiang and Changchun in northeast China, from the Yue Hai Beer Group, part of the Yue Hai Company Group that listed in Hong Kong market in 1997.
This acquisition brings the number of Harbin Beer Group subsidiaries to seven and doubles the group's annual production to more than one million tonnes, raising it from sixth to fourth position nationwide, after Tsingtao Beer, Yanjing Beer and CRE, he said.
The Harbin group, based in the provincial capital of Heilongjiang, has been the least aggressive in mergers and acquisitions. Its three main rivals have been on a spending spree during the past three years, buying capacity all over the country in a major consolidation of the industry.
In June, CRE - a joint venture between China Resources of Hong Kong and South African Breweries - stole a prize from under the nose of Harbin Beer by buying 70 per cent of Xin San Xing, the second-biggest brewery in Heilongjiang with an annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes.
The Harbin firm had negotiated a takeover with the company from early 1999 but could not reach agreement. The acquisition gave CRE capacity of 800,000 tonnes in northeast China, spurring the Harbin firm to make a move for the three breweries.