CVC acquires Eastern European breweries

UK buyout house CVC Capital Partners has acquired the Central European operations of Belgian brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev for US$2.2bn with the possibility of an extra US$800m dependent on the return CVC generates from the investment.

The deal will see AB InBev’s operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria,

Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia all change hands, to be renamed as StarBev.

StarBev will brew Stella Artois, Beck’s, Löwenbräu and Spaten and distribute Hoegaarden and Leffe in the above countries under license from AB InBev. AB InBev will continue to brew Staropramen in Russia and Ukraine and to distribute it in several other countries including the US, Germany and the UK.

This is CVC’s first deal since February 2009, when it acquired a 49.9% stake in De Post – La Poste, Belgium’s national postal service provider, for €373m.