Vietnam OKs Carlsberg to Raise Habeco Stake to 30%
Vietnam OKs Carlsberg to Raise Habeco Stake to 30%
Vietnam has informed the Danish government that Carlsberg A/S (CABGY) can increase its stake in a government-controlled local brewery, the Vietnamese trade and industry ministry said.
In a statement over the weekend, the ministry said it had informed Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who led a delegation that visited Carlsberg target Hanoi Beer Alcohol & Beverage Joint Stock Corp. on Thursday, that the Danish brewer could buy an additional stake of 13% in the Vietnamese company.
Carlsberg owns 17.23% of the local brewer, known as Habeco, and has been a strategic investor in the company since 2008, the statement said.
Unlisted Habeco produced 580 million liters of beer products in 2011 and had a profit of $48 million on revenue of $460 million, the statement added, without giving figures for comparison.
Carlsberg will buy 30.134 million shares at VND50,015 each from Habeco in a deal valued at VND1.507 trillion ($72.4 million), the Dau Tu newspaper reported Monday. The paper is published by Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Habeco, which has 231.8 million outstanding shares, posted a net profit of VND237 billion during the first half of this year, down 5.4% year on year, the report said.
wsj
