Asahi’s chief executive defends his strategy of spending US$22 billion to build a beer empire to sell Japanese brew

The biggest dealmaker in Japan this year has one thing on his mind: beer, and then more beer. More than US$20 billion of it in the past four years, to be precise.

Never mind that people around the globe are drinking less, with consumption expected to show little to no growth in the coming years, or that other brewers are trying to diversify out of the market. Asahi Group Holdings Chief Executive Officer Akiyoshi Koji is doubling down on beer as a survival strategy.

“We are expanding with the goal of being No. 1 for the premium beer segment in every geographic area we’re doing business,” Koji, 67, said in an interview. “The world is our market.” The CEO’s other obsession is to make Super Dry, which debuted in the late 80s and helped turn Asahi into Japan’s top brewer, into a global beer brand.

While other top brewers are moving into high-growth regions such as China and Southeast Asia, or exploring potentially lucrative businesses like cannabis-related products, Asahi has been in acquisition mode for beer in all corners of the globe, most recently in Europe and Australia.

Koji has been the driving force behind more than US$20 billion in acquisitions - including his biggest-ever deal in July, the US$11 billion purchase of Melbourne-based brewer Carlton & United Breweries - in the past four years. The deals have almost doubled Asahi’s value and vaulted it into the top ranks of the world’s biggest beer makers in less than five years.