Greece: Carlsberg acquires remaining 49% in second biggest brewery

Carlsberg announced today  that it has acquired the remaining 49 percent in Olympic Brewery, the nation’s second biggest brewery. When MythosBrewery and Olympic merged in 2014, Carlsberg already gained a controlling 51 percent share in the company.

The company, which employs approximately 450 people in Greece and has established a wide network of 90,000 different points of sale, including more than 2,000 partners and suppliers, operates two breweries in the areas of Thessaloniki and Euboea with an annual capacity of 2.2 million hl.

It offers Greek beer brands such as Mythos, Mythos Radler, FIX Hellas, FIX alcohol Free, FIX Dark, Kaiser and Henninger. Additionally, Olympic carries Carlsberg’s international brands such as Carlsberg, Tuborg and Somersby cider.

Carlsberg Group CEO, Cees ‘t Hart says: “Olympic Brewery is a historic Greek company and a very strong player in the Greek market. It is thus a positive and logical next step that we announce today, strengthening our presence in Southern Europe.”

Olympic Brewery has a national beer market share of 30 percent, which puts it at number two after rival Heineken. Athenian Brewery, a subsidiary of the Dutch brewer, operates three breweries in Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras and a mineral water bottling plant in Lamia and has a dominant market share of about 50%. In July 2017 Athenian Brewery lost an appeal and was fined €26.7 million in a case against the company for “illegal anti-competitive market abuse”. (inside.beer, 6.7.2017)

Managing Director of Olympic Brewery is since July 2017 Dejan Beko. He started with Carlsberg Group in March 2005 as Sponsorship & Event Manager in Carlsberg Serbia. He has since then held various positions in Carlsberg Serbia including Regional Sales Manager, Belgrade Region and Sales Director. In January 2013 Dejan moved to Carlsberg Bulgaria in a Sales Director position and was appointed to Managing Director of Carlsberg Bulgaria in August 2014.

His predecessor was Alexandros Karafyllidis, who moved up to the position as Vice President Challenger Markets Western Europe in Carlsberg Group and as Chairman of the supervisory board of Olympic Brewery. He supervises 11 countries, Germany, Italy, Southeastern Europe and Baltic states. He was hired by former Mythos Brewery in 2010 and took over as managing director in 2012.

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