PHILIPPINES: San Miguel Corp plans three new breweries in south-east Asia - report

San Miguel Corp is considering building three new breweries in south-east Asia, according to local reports. 

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The company, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, is looking at spending at least US$300m on the three sites in Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. 

Ramon S Ang, SMC's president and COO, said the company was carrying out studies looking at the viability of entering the markets. “Each plant (will require) a minimum investment of $100 million,” he said.  

The extra plants would bring in extra revenues of between $200-300m a year, Ang added. 

Meanwhile, he also told reporters at the group's annual stockholders meeting, the company would be forced to delist its stocks if Kirin Holdings refuses to sell a portion of its holdings in the brewery.

San Miguel Corp is under pressure to comply with a Philippine Stock Exchange ruling that requires it to make at least 10% of its subsidiaries open to public ownership. 

“Any sell-down of shares [to the public] would have to come from Kirin because San Miguel cannot go below its level now,” Ang was reported as saying. “If Kirin cannot go down to 38 percent from their [level of] 48 percent, I think it will be better for us to delist.” 

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