Bergenbier worth 300m euros in ABInBev - CVC Capital Partners deal

Investment fund CVC Capital Partners, which controls over 50 companies with 88 billion euros in turnover worldwide, will take over Romanian operations of Belgian group ABInBev (ABI), the Bergenbier producer, in a deal which ZF estimates to be worth at least 300 million euros. "This is a good move for the brand. Under the current circumstances, Bergenbier becomes the second-largest beer brand in CVC's portfolio, after Serbia's Jelen Pivo. I think the new investor will give it the attention it deserves, by focusing on the brand's consistent long-term development," Mihai Ghyka, former chief executive of InBev Romania and one of the key investors in the development of the Bergenbier brand, told ZF. Representatives of InBev Romania, the third largest player on the Romanian beer market, with a 19% market share in 2008, had not commented on the deal by the time this issue was ready for print. CVC Capital Partners will acquire ABI operations on eight European markets, in a 2.23 billion-dollar (1.5 billion-euro) deal, according to an announcement made yesterday by the two companies. Romania is the largest of the eight markets involved in the deal, with Romanian sales accounting for over 25% of overall volumes sold in the region in 2008. Considering the volume of sales recorded in Romania (4 million hectolitres in 2008) and the share of the Romanian market among the eight markets where ABI sold its operations, the deal is worth at least 300-350 million euros. According to ZF's Top 100 most valuable companies in Romania, put together in collaboration with Capital Partners, InBev's Romanian operations were valued at 335 million euros in 2008, a similar level to that recorded in 2007.