CVC Capital Partners Ltd, a British private equity firm that owns Formula One is currently considering the sale of StarBev. StarBev is based in the Czech Republic, and brews 16 brands including Staropramen. Three big beer players have apparently approached StarBev, including Kirin, Asahi Group, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. Ironically, AB sold that same business to CVC back in 2009. In that 2009 deal, AB retained the rights to purchase the company back, should CVC decide to sell.
Other Suitors
The list of interested parties don’t stop there. Rumors are that Turkish brewer Anadolu Efes Biracilik & Malt Sanayii A.Åž., SABMiller, Heineken, Tsingtao and Carlsberg could also want StarBev. The Wall Street Journal mentioned yesterday that the sale could come in as high as $3 billion. [Bloomberg]