RUSSIA: Heineken to invest in Volga brewery

25 March 2008 | Source: just-drinks.com editorial team

Heineken has confirmed that it intends to invest in the Volga brewery in Nizhni Novgorod in Russia.

The company said last week that it has invested EUR117m (US$182m) in the Russian brewery and plans to use funds to install additional production equipment and expand its storage facilities.

Heineken Russia CEO Roland Pirmez said: "The integration of Volga Brewery was completed ahead of plan.
This gave us opportunity to reinforce our ambitious plans in this region. We aim at to expand technical
capacity of Volga Brewery from 2.2m to 5.2m hectolitres per year by 2009. Having strong national and regional brands in the portfolio, the company will be able to achieve distribution efficiencies. The capacity
expansion and more local production of brands allows Heineken to reinforce its leadership position in
Volga and Central region".

In 2005-2007, Heineken invested over EUR60m in the first stage of modernisation of the Volga brewery contributing to the production of Russian national beer brands, such as Okhota, PIT and Bochkarev.

Heineken's brewing presence in Russia traverses companies including Ivan Taranov Breweries (ITB) in Moscow, Shikhan in Sterlitamak, Sobol in Novosibirsk, Patra in Yekaterinburg and Stepan Razin in St. Petersburg.