Kirin to push own beer in Southeast Asia after alliance ends
by HARUKA TAKASHIGE, ajw.asahi.com
Kirin’s milk beverage products on sale at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City
Photo by: Haruka Takashige
SINGAPORE--Kirin Holdings Co. plans to enter the standard beer market in Singapore, despite the end of its capital alliance with a major beverage producer in the island state.
“Our Southeast Asian strategy will never weaken,” Tetsuhiko Sato at Kirin Holdings Singapore, which oversees Kirin’s operations in Southeast Asia, said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.
Sato, who is responsible for sales strategy, said Kirin plans to increase sales of Ichiban Shibori beer, sold as a premium product in Singapore, and later introduce lower-priced beer to the country.
“We want to eventually compete in the larger market,” he said.
Denmark’s Carlsberg currently holds a large share in the standard beer market in Singapore.
Kirin obtained a 15-percent stake in Singapore’s Fraser and Neave Ltd. in July 2010 to increase sales in Southeast Asia. But Thai Beverage Public Co. has purchased a majority of shares in the company, making it difficult for Kirin to maintain the alliance.
Kirin said Feb. 1 it will sell its holdings in Fraser and Neave to Thai Beverage for 150 billion yen ($1.6 billion).
“We acquired know-how in local operations such as product development and advertising (through the alliance),” Sato said, adding that Kirin hopes to find a new partner in Singapore or Malaysia.
Kirin will gain a profit of 47 billion yen from the sales of Fraser and Neave shares.
“In hindsight, (ending the alliance) was good,” Sato said. “It would have taken a lot of time to earn this much from the beverage business.”