October 15 (SeeNews) - Croatian-based Cervesia Zagreb on Thursday notified the Zagreb bourse and the country's financial regulator about the occurrence of events that will trigger a buyout bid at local brewer Zagrebacka Pivovara.
Cervesia Zagreb, controlled by Luxembourg-based StarBev, signed on October 14 with Dutch-based Interbrew Central European Holding BV an agreement for the sale and purchase of 71.92% of the issued share capital of Zagrebacka Pivovara, Cervesia said a filing with the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE).
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Earlier on Thursday, Anheuser-Busch InBev, created by the merger of Interbrew and AmBev, said it had reached an agreement to sell to funds advised by private equity firm CVC its operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia in a $2.2 billion deal (1.5 billion euro).
The group of operations will be renamed to StarBev, Istvan Szoke, Head of Central and Eastern Europe at CVC, said in a press release.
Under the agreement between Cervesia and Interbrew Central European Holding BV, the Croatian-based company acquires 446,232 ordinary Zagrebacka Pivovara shares with a nominal value of 300 kuna each ($61.9/41.4 euro).
Cervesia said it is now required to place a buyout bid within a law-prescribed timeframe after securing the relevant regulatory approval.
Zagrebacka Pivovara's capital totals 186,135,000 kuna and is divided into 620,450 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 300 kuna each, Cervesia said in its ZSE filing.
Zagrebacka Pivovara is one of the leading brewers in Croatia and its domestic market share was 39.7% at the end of last year, Anheuser-Busch InBev said in its 2008 annual report.
The shares of the Croatian brewer rose 3.64% to 3,989.99 kuna in 2.2 million kuna of turnover on the ZSE on Thursday.
(1 euro=7.2566 Croatian kuna)