CVC to buy InBev’s CEE operations for $3bn

CVC Capital Partners has agreed to acquire the Central European operations of brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev for up to $3 billion.

CVC would acquire the company’s businesses in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovakia. CVC also has agreed to make and distribute beer brands like Stella Artois, Beck’s, Hoegaarden, Spaten and Leffe. ABI will continue to brew and distribute Staropramen in the Ukraine, Russia, US, Germany and the UK.

CVC will rename the business group StarBev, and the transaction is expected to close in January, 2010.

Beer deal

 

The deal includes $1.6 billion in cash, $448 million in unsecured deferred payment obligation with a six-year maturity and $165 million in minority interests. The debt can be automatically extended by up to two years in the event of a restructuring of the senior debt financing. CVC would not disclose how much equity it is using in the deal.

London-based CVC closed its €11 billion fifth fund in January.

The beer conglomerate is selling assets to raise cash to pay debt accruing from its $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in November 2008.

Earlier this month, The Blackstone Group agreed to a deal to buy Busch Entertainment from the company for $2.7 billion, using $1 billion in equity in the deal. Busch Entertainment runs 10 amusement parks in the US, including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens chains.

In May, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought the company’s Korean subsidiary, Oriental Brewery, for $1.8 billion.