Kirin eyes bigger stake in San Miguel Brewery

MANILA, Philippines–Japan’s Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. is keen on increasing its stake in San Miguel Brewery Inc. and participating in the non-alcoholic beverage and food businesses of conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

“If (San Miguel) has an intention to sell its majority stake (in SMB), we are ready to talk to them,” Kirin Holdings managing director Keisuke Nishimura said on the sidelines of the Nikkei Asian Review Forum on Friday.

Nishimura said, however, that there had been no talks with SMC president Ramon S. Ang since Kirin Holdings acquired in 2009 a 48-percent stake in SMB, the largest producer of beer in the country.

Kirin bought into SMB to enable it to “gain a foothold in the growing beer market in Southeast Asia.”

“We invested in SMB in 2009 and after that, we have had several talks with Ramon Ang. In the past, he showed me the idea to sell the majority stake (in SMB) to invest in infrastructure business. But for now, there are no new talks. The brewery business is a very profitable business and very stable,” Nishimura added.

Nishimura also noted that the adoption of a multi-beverage strategy by SMB, meant to tap the country’s growing non-alcoholic drinks sector, may pave the way for Kirin Holdings to distribute some of its products in the growing Philippine market.

“The beer market is still growing but San Miguel has almost 96 percent market share, so we don’t have much room to get another market share. So (for SMB) to go into the soft drinks business makes sense to us. We can utilize the platforms of the beer business. For example, to deliver the soft drinks, we can use the transportation system of the beer. I believe the potential of the soft drinks business of the SMB is very big even with so many competitors. I believe we have a chance to succeed,” Nishimura explained.