Polish billionaire may join race for SABMiller's east Europe brands - report

ARE Holdings

15/09/2016 06:46

WARSAW, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Polish billionaire Sebastian 
Kulczyk could team up with private equity funds in a potential 
joint bid for SABMiller's  SAB.L  central and eastern European 
beer brands, Puls Biznesu daily said on Thursday quoting unnamed 
sources.   
    The brewing businesses, based in the Czech Republic, Poland, 
Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, are up for sale as part of 
Anheuser-Busch InBev's  ABI.BR  $100 billion-plus takeover of 
SABMiller. 
    AB InBev, maker of Budweiser and Stella Artois, has offered 
to sell SAB's entire European business to ease antitrust 
approval for the takeover, which is among the largest in 
corporate history. 
    Puls Biznesu said Sebastian Kulczyk, who now owns a 1.5 
percent stake in SABMiller, could become a partner to private 
equity funds that need to team up to match AB InBev's price 
expectations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1AB2N3 
    Kulczyk Investments, a company owned by Sebastian Kulczyk, 
was not immediately available for comment.  
    The stake in SABMiller is Jan Kulczyk's most valuable asset. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N109203 
    The Polish daily said Advent International, KKR, BC 
Partners, CVC and Mid Europa Partners are among the funds 
interested in buying SABMiller's local brands, which include 
Czech Pilsner Urquell, Polish Lech and Tyskie and Hungarian 
Dreher.  
    China Resources Enterprises  0291.HK , Japan's Asahi 
 5857.T  and Kirin  2503.T  as well as Czech R2G are also 
potential bidders in the deal valued at 5-7 billion euros, which 
is expected to start after Oct. 10, Puls Biznesu said.  
     
 
 (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Sunil Nair) 
 ((agnieszka.barteczko@thomsonreuters.com; +48226539700; Reuters 
Messaging: agnieszka.barteczko.reuters.com@thomsonreuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SABMILLER CEE BRANDS/POLAND