Margin Call: Japanese brewer pays high price for low-growth business.
Investment bankers charged with finding buyers for low-growth mature food and drinks companies usually don’t have to go further than the major Japanese companies in that sector.
Asahi Holdings proved the point with last week’s purchase of Australia’s largest brewer, Carlton & United Breweries (formerly Foster’s), from Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev).
The giant Belgium-based company, which is also the largest brewer in the US with its Budweiser brand, took control of CUB after merging with SAB Miller to create the world’s largest brewer in 2016.
The latest deal, for $A16 billion, was