Global beer giant SABMiller has made its second significant move into the mainland with the purchase of a 29.6 per cent stake in Hong Kong-listed Harbin Brewery Group.
In the latest acquisition by foreign brewery firms looking to quench the thirst of mainlanders, the world's No2 brewer said the investment would make it the biggest foreign beer player in China.
In 1994, SABMiller and red chip China Resources Enterprise formed 49:51 joint venture China Resources Brewery (CRB) - the mainland's second-largest brewer behind Tsingtao Brewery.
CRB operates 30 breweries in nine mainland provinces and has total annual production volume of more than 27 million hectolitres.
Harbin Brewery, which ranks No4 in China, has an installed capacity of about 12.5 million hectolitres and is a market leader in the northeast with annual sales of HK$1.11 billion.
Faced with saturated market at home, foreign firms such as United States-based Anheuser-Busch and Interbrew of Belgium are rushing to grab a slice of China's beer market, which is second only to the US in consumption and the world's largest by production volume.