Rush on for beer domination

LONDON – There will be further consolidation in the global beer industry despite recent large mergers, SABMiller plc Chief Financial Officer Malcolm Wyman said on Thursday.

“We’re going to continue to see major transactions taking place; consolidation is underway,” Wyman told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. Wyman wouldn’t say which companies look attractive as possible acquisition targets, but said as one of the major global brewers, SABMiller can look at all major opportunities that arise.SABMiller ranks as the world’s third largest brewer by volume, after Anheuser-Busch of the United States and Belgium-based InBev.It was the product of a major sector consolidation itself, when South African Breweries bought Miller Brewing of the US in 2002.There has been speculation that SABMiller is interested in buying Colombia’s Grupo Empresarial Bavaria, but Wyman wouldn’t comment on specific deals.There have been several huge deals in the beer industry of late.Interest in Bavaria comes just months after Belgian brewer Interbrew sealed a complex $11bn cash-and-stock deal to take control of Latin America’s biggest brewer, Brazil’s Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, or AmBev.- Nampa-APWyman wouldn’t say which companies look attractive as possible acquisition targets, but said as one of the major global brewers, SABMiller can look at all major opportunities that arise.SABMiller ranks as the world’s third largest brewer by volume, after Anheuser-Busch of the United States and Belgium-based InBev.It was the product of a major sector consolidation itself, when South African Breweries bought Miller Brewing of the US in 2002.There has been speculation that SABMiller is interested in buying Colombia’s Grupo Empresarial Bavaria, but Wyman wouldn’t comment on specific deals.There have been several huge deals in the beer industry of late.Interest in Bavaria comes just months after Belgian brewer Interbrew sealed a complex $11bn cash-and-stock deal to take control of Latin America’s biggest brewer, Brazil’s Companhia de Bebidas das Americas, or AmBev.- Nampa-AP