Diageo Plc, the world's largest liquor maker, plans to make its first acquisition in China by buying shares in Sichuan Swellfun Co., the nation's oldest distiller of the white spirit known as "baijiu.''
Diageo will buy a 43 percent stake in Sichuan Chengdu Quanxing Co., parent of Swellfun said. Beverage makers including Diageo, InBev NV and Anheuser- Busch Cos. are making acquisitions in the world's most populous nation, betting rising incomes will boost demand for alcohol. China is set to surpass Japan as the world's second-largest spirits maker by value with sales estimated to reach $11.4 billion this year, Diageo said.
Swellfun markets its liquor to China's wealthier consumers and competes with Kweichow Moutai Co., which produces a well- known spirit brand. A bottle of Swellfund is sold for about 600 yuan, compared with the average price of 3 yuan for beer, 5 yuan for spirits and 25 yuan for wine.
The company began producing ``baijiu'' 600 years ago at the end of the Mongol reign in China during the Yuan Dynasty. Kweichow Moutai, the maker of spirit that was used to toast former U.S. President Richard Nixon, plans to boost capacity by 2,000 tons a year by 2008. Chinese spirit production jumped 22 percent in the first half to 1.93 million tons.
Overseas wine companies spent 1.1 billion yuan ($140 million) advertising their products in China last year, 156 percent more than a year earlier, with the most spent on Pernod Ricard SA's Chivas Regal, according to CTR Market Research Co.
Diageo entered China in 1995, selling imported brands including Johnnie Walker and J&B. The company has had "double- digit'' sales growth in the mainland in recent years, the company's China spokesman, Michael Lu, said in an Oct. 18 interview. Other Diageo brands sold in China include Smirnoff and Baileys.
Remy Cointreau SA, the maker of Remy Martin cognac, in 1980 co-founded Dynasty Fine Wines Group Ltd., as the overseas foreign company to own a Chinese wine venture.
InBev, the maker of Beck's and Stella Artois, in June closed the purchase of Fujian Sedrin Brewery Co., giving the Leuven, Belgium-based company a foothold in China's southeastern province.
Anheuser-Busch Cos., the world's biggest brewer, has in the past few years lifted its stake in Tsingtao Brewery Co. to 27 percent. SABMiller Plc. in 2001 bought a stake in China Resources Snow Breweries Ltd., and the venture has become Asia's biggest brewer by sales volume.
Source:佚名