Dutch beer group Heineken is set to become the leader of the Romanian beer market, following the international acquisition of Austrian company Brau Union, owner of a 33.6% market share in Romania.
The acquisition will be completed this summer, after public purchase offers worth 1.9 billion dollars are run on the Vienna Stock Exchange, where Brau Union is listed.
The offers will soon be launched, following five months of negotiations that saw another two large international groups (SABMiler - already operating in Romania and Scottish-Newcastle) entering the race for Brau Union.
The arrival of Heineken, long awaited by Romanian players and analysts, will spark fiercer competition on the premium and super-premium segments, where the Dutch own two powerful brands, already famous in Romania: Heineken and Amstel.
The two brands have already entered the Romanian market, but import customs duties are responsible for their very high prices, almost double the price of competing brands such as Carlsberg, Gosser or Stella Artois (for Heineken) and Tuborg (for Amstel). Consequently, Heineken sales in Romania are almost insignificant (less than one percent of the market), although the two brands are very popular.
After the acquisition of Brau Union, though, Heineken will be able to introduce Amstel and Heineken in Romania (where it will have seven plants) and to offer competitive prices, with no customs duties.
In fact, the Dutch group had repeatedly attempted to buy production units in Romania, but to no avail, market sources say.
Heineken's entry will significantly complicate things for companies such as Tuborg Romania or Interbrew, which mainly rely on Tuborg, Carlsberg and Stella Artois.
However, things are not that simple for Heineken and Brau Union, either. The Austrian group is already positioned on the premium (Silva and Kaiser) and super-premium (Gosser) segments, which makes it difficult to find the best way to bring any additions to the portfolio.
When Heineken starts production, this will certainly affect the Gosser sales, while Amstel is set to engulf some of the market share attained by Silva and Kaiser.
Officials of the two companies are tight-lipped about the portfolio strategy for Romania, but, internationally, Gosser will stay in the Heineken portfolio. Which could clear the way for Amstel to become the first beer brand the Dutch group will make in Romania. Amstel's popularity has soared in the past few years, due to the Champions League. laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
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