Asia Brewery soon to be managed by Heineken

Lucio C. Tan, Sr., owner of Asia Brewery and one of the richest men from the Philippines is considering ceding management and operational control of his brewing interests to Dutch brewing multinational Heineken N.V.

Aksyon, a Philippine news program, reported this week that Heineken International BV and Asia Brewery are going to establish a new company, which includes Asia Brewery’s two brewing sites in Cabuyao, Laguna and in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental. Allegedly Lucio Tan’s son Michael Tan, is currently in Europe to sign the closing documents for the joint venture which was already announced last May.

83-year-old Tan already handed over control of Philippines largest tobacco company, Fortune Tobacco, to Philip Morris in a similar deal. In the tobacco joint-venture, which was formed in 2010, both partners hold equal economic interests. Lucio Tan serves as chaiman while day-to-day operations are managed by Philip Morris.

Asia Brewery has started distributing Heineken in the Philippines earlier this year. It was also reported that the two Philippine breweries of Asia Brewery will be soon upgraded to locally brew Heinekenand Tigerbeer, the latter being Heinekens most successful brand in Asia. The Tiger beer brand, owned by Asia-Pacific Breweries based in Singapur, is a joint-venture of Heineken International and Fraser & Neave. The company controls 30 breweries in 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

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