Carlsberg Applies to Raise Stake in Chongqing Brewery

Danish brewer Carlsberg has applied to increase its stake in China’s Chongqing Brewery Co Ltd by buying a 12.25 percent state-owned holding, Chongqing Brewery said on Friday.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewer of Budweiser, and China Resources Snow Breweries, a joint venture between China Resources Enterprises Ltd and SABMiller, have also applied to buy the stake, Chongqing Brewery said in a statement carried in the official China Securities Journal.

Carlsberg, which already has a roughly 17.5 percent stake in Chongqing Brewery, had earlier declined to comment on whether it had plans to lift its stake, after Chongqing Brewery announced early this month that its state-owned parent would sell part of its holding.

Raising its stake to roughly 30 percent would make Carlsberg the biggest shareholder in Chongqing Brewery.

Chongqing, the biggest city in western China, is a manufacturing hub and important inland port on the Yangtze River.

The world’s biggest brewers have made significant headway into China, the world’s biggest beer market, mainly by buying stakes in local companies.

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