October 24 (SeeNews) - A consortium of Sweden's United Nordic Beverages and Lithuanian company Alita said on Wednesday it planned to invest over 40 million euro ($56.9 million) by 2010 in Serbian brewery Beogradska Industrija Piva (BIP), in which it holds a majority stake.
The consortium bought 51.8% in BIP from the state for 21.4 million euro in June.
"Investments [in BIP] under the global investment plan exceed 40 million euro," BIP said in a statement.
The investment will go to increase the brewery's market share and to build a new brewery in Belgrade, the statement added.
The new owners also plan to upgrade its malt plant in Cacak in central Serbia. Among its plans is also to start offering various soft drinks to the market.
Under the sale agreement between the Serbian Privatisation Agency and the consortium, United Nordic Beverages and Alita should invest 5.1 million euro in new BIP equipment by 2010.
BIP has four factories: two located in Belgrade, one in Cacak and another in Leskovac, in the south.
($= 0.7031 euro)