SABMiller targets eastern front

27 August, 2008
Page 6 
SABMiller is to buy the Russian brewer LLC Vladpivo, the largest brewer in the Russian far east Primor ye region, located near the city of Vladivostok.

It has an annual capacity of 1 million h l and the value of the gross assets is said to be approximately US$69 million.

SABMiller says the Russian far east represents around 7.6 per cent of the Russian beer market and is projected to grow faster than the beer market in Russia as a whole between 2007 and 2013.

Vladpivo will become SABMiller's third production facility in the country, adding to its main brewery in Kaluga and the site in Ulyanovsk which is under construction and expected to be commissioned in 2009.

l SABMiller is launching its recently acquired Dutch beer brand Grolsch in South Africa.

Both formats - its distinctive 45 cl "swingtop " bottle and the 33 cl flat-sided crown top, will be imported from the Grolsch brewery in the Netherlands in non-returnable packaging.