Brewer taking on Latin rival with beer deal

Brewing giant SABMiller is preparing to go head to head with Anheuser-Busch InBev in Brazil, the world’s second biggest beer market, after agreeing a deal with a local brewer.

The FTSE 100 beer giant has agreed a tie-up with Grupo Petropolis, Brazil’s second biggest brewer, to sell “premium” beer brands in the lucrative South American market from next year.

SABMiller, a major bottler of Coca-Cola products, is also shortly expected to announce a new deal in Africa. Analysts have been speculating over a tie-up with another soft drinks bottling company on the continent, with several naming Coca-Cola Sabco as a likely target.

SABMiller has been busy working on a number of offensives in the last few months, defying speculation in the autumn that it could potentially become the latest victim of AB InBev, the world’s biggest brewer.

Speculation that AB InBev could make a play for SABMiller intensified in September after it emerged that the latter had made an approach to buy Heineken, only to be rebuffed. Talk of an AB InBev move on SABMiller has since died down.

AB InBev’s Brazilian arm, AmBev, currently dominates the lucrative Brazilian market with a 63pc share, but SABMiller is hoping to win over middle class consumers with premium brands. The first such brand – expected to be Miller Genuine Draft – will launch next year, according to Karl Lippert, SABMiller’s vice president for Latin America.

He said: “The nicest thing about the Brazilian market is female participation in the beer category is the best in all of Latin America. As a consequence of that Brazil represents 42pc of all beer sales on the entire continent.”