San Miguel Corp this week confirmed that it is willing to sell its outstanding shares in San Miguel Brewery (SMB), with Kirin Holdings cited as an interested buyer. We take a look at the history of the Philippine-based firm and its brewery.
- Last month San Miguel Brewery completed a deal to acquire the international brewing arm (52% stake) of parent firm, San Miguel Corporation, for US$300m. San Miguel Corp continues to own all shares in SMB not held by Kirin.
- Kiring Holdings completed the purchase of a 48% stake in San Miguel Brewery in May last year. It bought a 43% stake in the brewery from parent group San Miguel Corp and a further 5% stake by buying up all publicly owned shares in the group not owned by San Miguel Corp. The Japanese brewer agreed to pay PHP59bn and PHP26.2bn for the stakes respectively.
- San Miguel Corp came under fire from stock exchange officials early in 2009 after the initial announcement of the Kirin buy. The firm was ordered to explain why the deal was reported in the media before being announced to investors. Investigators from the stock exchange gave San Miguel 24 hours to explain the discrepancy. No action by authorities has followed.
- In November last year, San Miguel Brewery announced plans to spend more than PHP1bn on a new bottling plant.
- In May 2008, San Miguel Brewery began trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange. The shares were greeted warmly, opening at PHP8.30 pesos (19.54 US cents), up 3.8% from the IPO price of PHP8. San Miguel Corp said it intended to use the funds raised through the IPO – estimated at PHP6.16bn – to pay down debt and finance its expansion into heavy industries.