華潤啤酒將全資控股華潤雪花啤酒

AB InBev moved a step closer to completing its ￡71bn takeover of SABMiller, after China Resources Beer agreed to buy out the London-listed group’s stake in their Chinese brewery joint venture.

中國華潤啤酒(China Resources Beer)同意全盤收購英國上市集團SABMiller在中國華潤雪花啤酒(China Resources Snow Breweries)所持的股份，此舉使得百威英博(AB InBev)朝着完成以710億英鎊收購SABMiller的交易又邁進了一步。華潤雪花啤酒是華潤啤酒與SABMiller在中國的合資企業。

China Resources Beer will acquire SABMiller’s 49 per cent stake in China Resources Snow Breweries — the brewer of the world’s top-selling beer — for $1.6bn, ending a 22 year-old joint venture that produced voluminous vats but punier profits.

華潤啤酒將斥資16億美元收購SABMiller在華潤雪花啤酒所持的49%股份，爲雙方長達22年的合資經營畫上句號。華潤雪花啤酒是全球銷量最高的啤酒釀造商，但這家合資企業產量雖高，利潤卻比較微薄。

Investors applauded the deal, sending China Resources Beer’s share price up as much as 34.6 per cent to HK$17.20 in morning trading in Hong Kong.

投資者對這筆交易表示歡迎，在香港股市早盤交易中，華潤啤酒的股價一度上漲34.6%，至每股17.20港元。

The transaction is a key milestone for AB InBev as it has been shedding assets to win regulatory approval across the globe to close the largest beer deal in history, dubbed MegaBrew by analysts.

對百威英博來說，這筆交易是一個重要里程碑。該公司一直在剝離資產，以求世界各國的監管機構批准它完成有史以來最大的一筆啤酒行業併購交易。

Regulators around the world are looking closely at the deal as AB InBev’s acquisition of SABMiller will create a megabrewer that is likely to control almost half the industry’s total profits.

世界各國的監管機構正在密切關注這筆併購交易，因爲百威英博收購SABMiller將創造出一個“巨型釀酒廠”，它很可能會控制該行業總利潤的將近一半。

Snow beer is already the largest beer brand in China, with 21 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor. But Snow is pitched at the lower end of the market, where margins are slim and sales have been hit by the mainland economic slowdown and consumers’ changing tastes.

歐睿(Euromonitor)的數據顯示，雪花啤酒已是中國最大的啤酒品牌，佔有21%的國內市場份額。但雪花啤酒定位於較低端市場、利潤空間微薄，而且其銷量也受到中國內地經濟增長放緩和消費者口味變化的衝擊。

A combined AB InBev and SABMiller entity would have had more than 40 per cent of the beer market in China, putting it in antitrust regulators’ sights.

百威英博和SABMiller合併後將在中國啤酒市場佔據40%以上的市場份額，因此招致了反壟斷監管機構的關注。

When InBev acquired Anheuser-Busch in 2008, in the first published ruling of the new antitrust regime, Mofcom banned InBev from taking a stake in CR Snow.

2008年英博集團(InBev)收購安海斯-布希(Anheuser-Busch)時，中國商務部依據新頒佈的反壟斷法作出了首例公開裁決，禁止英博入股華潤雪花啤酒。