India’s United Breweries becomes part of the Heineken group

Heineken announced that, following United Breweries Limited’s (UBL) annual general meeting on 29 July 2021, it has obtained control of UBL in India. This follows Heineken’s recent acquisition of additional ordinary shares in UBL on 23 June 2021, taking its shareholding in UBL from 46.5% to 61.5%.

Dolf van den Brink, chairman of the Executive Board, chief executive officer, commented, “UBL has a proud history dating back more than a century as an influential shaper of the beer industry in India. It built its position as the undisputed market leader in India with a strong network of breweries across the country and a fantastic portfolio led by its iconic Kingfisher brand family, complemented more recently by a strong Heineken international brand portfolio. We are honored to build on this legacy and look forward to working with our colleagues at UBL to continue to win in the market, delight consumers and customers and unlock future growth.”

India offers an exciting long-term growth opportunity as per capita beer consumption is low at 2 liters per annum. Its growing population of nearly 1.4 billion people includes a strong emerging middle class, enabling further premiumization. UBL will be a top Heineken operating company and Kingfisher a top 5 global brand.

Heineken expects the consolidation of UBL will have a small accretive effect on EPS and a dilutive effect on operating profit margin.