Pint to line

29 August 2012 By Wayne Arnold

Thai Beverage has raised its stake in Singapore’s Fraser & Neave close to 30 percent. Its billionaire founder may be trying to block Heineken’s $10.9 billion offer for Asia Pacific Breweries. But it’s more likely he’s just angling for a larger share of the Dutch brewer’s payout.

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Thai Beverage paid S$316 million ($252 million) to raise its stake in Singapore’s Fraser and Neave (F&N) by 2.6 percent to roughly 29 percent, the company said Aug. 29. A 30 percent stake would, under Singapore regulations, trigger a mandatory general offer for F&N. F&N’s board hasaccepted Heineken’s latest offer of S$53 ($42) per share for itsroughly 40 percent stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), according to a press release issued by Heineken on Aug. 17.
Heineken owns a 9.5 percent stake in APB,as well as half of a joint venture with F&N that in turn owns 64.8 percent of the company. ThaiBev, which is controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, last month bought a 24 percent stake in F&N from Singapore bank OCBC and the family that controls it. At the same time,a company controlled by Charoen’s son-in-law bought the bank’s roughly 8 percent stake in APB.

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