Consolidation Brewing in the Beer Industry

We wouldn't be surprised to see SABMiller follow up on its recent Argentinean purchase with more acquisitions and step up its global scale

Morningstar Equity Analysts 25 November, 2010 | 9:19AM
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SABMiller (SAB) announced its intentions to acquire Cervecercia Argentina S.A. Isenbeck, the third-largest brewer in Argentina whose principal brands include Isenbeck and Warsteiner. Financials terms of the deal were not disclosed, but we believe the deal is too small to move the needle on our fair value estimate. What is particularly notable to us is that this is SABMiller's first foray into Latin America (a geography dominated by A-B InBev (

guageId=en-GB&SecurityToken=0P0000KNDY]3]0]E0WWE$$ALL" target="_self" title="">BUD)) since its 2005 acquisition of Bavaria--which could indicate that competition is heating up in the beer industry. With plenty of assets in emerging markets up for grabs and SABMiller's balance sheet in good shape (compared with that of A-B InBev, which has a higher debt load), we wouldn't be surprised to see the firm make a few acquisitions to step up its global scale. In the immediate term, we expect SABMiller to be interested in the beer assets of Australia's Fosters Group, and when the MillerCoors joint venture has executed its cost-cutting strategy, the firm could even swallow Molson Coors. While an acquisition strategy may generate economies of scale, it is likely to pitch SABMiller into head-to-head competition with A-B InBev in more markets.

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