A shocking title, to grab your attention. Indeed, Interbrew, the largest Belgian brewer, bought recently, in two separate purchases, the beer business of Whitbread and Bass, two leading UK breweries. By doing so, Interbrew becomes the largest brewer in the UK, and jumps from the sixth largest brewer in the world to the second spot, knocking Heineken back. Anheuser-Busch stays comfortable on the number one spot.

This tremendous expansion of the Belgian brewer started only 5 years ago, when it bought the Labatt brewery business in Canada. In the last 9 years, Interbrew bought 32 breweries in 15 different countries. Besides America and Europe, Interbrew is a strong player in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, including Russia, and in China and South Korea. Until now, Interbrew is a privately held Belgian company, but plans to go public on the Belgian Stock Exchange later this year. It is expected to be one of the largest public offerings in Western Europe, that may fill the war chest of the brewer again for more takeovers in the world.

As beer lovers we can only hope, that this consolidation movement saves the most interesting beer brands, without changing the taste, aroma and feel of the beer. It seems that Interbrew has a policy to go after famous non-Pilsner brands to build a portfolio of higher profit making better tasting beers. This can not be said of the other 4 brewers in the top five, who are in fact one-product, cheap Pilsner brewers. Is Guinness the next target for Interbrew? A Belgian Black-and-Tan: don’t be surprised in 2001.
Newsletter July 2000