The scramble by foreign brewers to win market share in China's beer market escalated yesterday, when Anheuser-Busch, the world's biggest brewer, said it had bought a 29 per cent stake in Harbin Brewery Group, China's fourth-largest beer brewer, for $1.08 billion.
Anheuser-Busch's investment in Harbin Brewery is the American firm's second investment in a major brewer in China - it also has a 9.9 per cent stake in the nation's largest beer company, Tsingtao Brewery, with an agreement to increase its stake to 27 per cent.
'[The Harbin Brewery] investment complements our Budweiser operations in China and our strategic partnership with Tsingtao. Tsingtao is supportive of Anheuser-Busch's investment in Harbin and agrees it will be beneficial for all parties,' said Stephen Burrows, the president of Anheuser-Busch International.
Harbin Brewery's business is limited to within its home region in northeast China, while Tsingtao distributes nationwide and had 12.7 per cent of the market in 2002.
'Harbin Brewery fits our strategy of investing in leading companies in growth markets with good volume and profit growth potential,' said Patrick Stokes, the president of Anheuser-Busch.
Last year, Harbin Brewery's net profit rose 4 per cent to $114.4 million and its turnover grew 25 per cent to $1.4 billion.