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* Five private equity firms looking at ABInBev CEE assets
* Cinven, Warburg Pincus, CVC, TPG and KKR show interest
* First-round bids due in about two weeks
(Adds detail, background, analyst comment)
By Victoria Howley and Simon Meads
LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - No.1 brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev
(ABInBev) <ABI.BR> will open bidding in two weeks for 11 Central
and Eastern European breweries, with at least five private
equity firms considering bidding, people familiar with the
situation said.
ABInBev will give management presentations on the businesses
over the next week, with first round bids due in about two
weeks, two sources familiar with the situation said on
Wednesday.
ABInBev has declined to comment.
Separate sources said that Cinven, [] Warburg Pincus
[] CVC Capital Partners, TPG [] and KKR [] have
expressed interest in the 11 breweries, which are in Bulgaria,
Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania and
Serbia and include the prized Staropramen brand, the flagsghip
beer from the Czech Republic's second-largest brewer, separate
sources said.
The company also has brewing operations in Russia and
Ukraine.
Advent International had looked at the assets but is not
pursuing a deal, said another source familiar with the
situation.
All the private equity firms declined to comment.
The brewer has been looking to cut its debts since it bought
U.S.-based Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch last year for $52
billion in cash. It has said it wants to complete divestments of
$7 billion by November.
It has raised almost $3 billion so far this year from the
sale of South Korea's Oriental Brewery and a stake in China's
Tsingtao Breweries. <0168.HK> <600600.SS>
RIVALS DISADVANTAGED
Industry rivals, such as No.2 brewer SABMiller <SAB.L> and
No.3 Heineken <HEIN.AS> would have difficulty submitting
successful bids, analysts said.
London-based SABMiller would have to face competition
regulators as it already has a large presence in the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Romania, while the Amsterdam-based
Heineken has high debts after last year's purchase of parts of
Scottish & Newcastle.
Brewing analysts said that breweries are frequently valued
at between $125 and $150 a hectolitre of annual sales.
ABInBev's Central and Eastern European brewing operations,
excluding Russia and Ukraine, last year sold some 15 million
hectolitres of beer, valuing the business at $1.9 billion to
$2.3 billion.
Private equity firms have traditionally been cautious about
investing in beer and brewing assets because the business
consumes large of amounts of capital but are increasingly
attracted by the defensive nature of the alcohol industry and
the prospect of entering emerging markets.
ABInBev sold Oriental Brewery to KKR last month for $1.8
billion, a deal that saw the U.S. buyout house write a cheque
for about 50 percent of the sale price and receive a $300
million vendor loan.
Banking sources said that bidders for the Central and
Eastern European assets would need to provide a similar level of
equity financing.
(Additional reporting by David Jones in London and Phil
Blenkinsop in Brussels; editing by Karen Foster)
