The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has started investigating into a case related to acquisition of mainly retail assets and brands of PrJSC Efes Ukraine (Donetsk) by public joint-stock company SUN InBev Ukraine (Kyiv).
The relevant information has been posted on the website of the committee.
SUN InBev Ukraine is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev. It has three breweries in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv. Its beer brands portfolio includes the international brands Bud, Stella Artois, Beck's, Staropramen, Leffe, Hoegaarden, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Franziskaner, as well as the national brands Chernigivske, Rogan, and Yantar.
Efes in Ukraine has a brewery in Donetsk located on the uncontrolled territory of Ukraine. The company said that it lost control over these facilities on February 1, 2017.
In August 2017, the world's largest brewery concern Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), headquartered in Belgium, reached a non-binding agreement with Anadolu Efes, the leading brewer in Turkey, regarding a 50:50 merger of AB InBevs and Anadolu Efes' existing Russia and Ukraine businesses.
The companies anticipate the transaction could complete by the end of H1 2018. Until completion of the transaction, both AB InBev and Anadolu Efes' businesses in Russia and Ukraine remain separate and continue business as usual.
The announcement of this non-binding agreement follows AB InBevs acquisition of a 24% stake in Anadolu Efes as part of the companys combination with SABMiller, which completed in October 2016.
