Don’t Try This Deal At Home: KKR’s Beer Deal Not For Lightweights
We won't soon see another deal like KKR's $1.8 billion carve-out of Oriental Brewery. The year's second-largest buyout was made possible by the combination of a motivated seller and an unusual capital structure. According to a source familiar with the situation, KKR's bid was actually the lowest of the three final offers -- from Affinity Equity Partners and MBK Partners -- but KKR won because its was the only offer with committed financing. This was important to Anheuser-InBev because the company is in a bit of a pinch to pay down debt: it has a $7 billion bridge loan due this fall. Anheuser-Inbev was so motivated, in fact, that it set up a $300 million PIK note for the deal, something that wasn't necessarily offered to KKR's competitors.
8 May 2009•3 mins read
