INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE
MBL subsidiary merges
with Guinness
Irish agents wish A.H. Heineken aD the best on his birthday
Cautious toe-dip in Chinese market
0
December 1988
Number 17
Contents:
with Qualass
Eagle of
Toledo
building a raft
A^^th^Atak
Heineken bottle
in a
Heineken, together with a number of partners, recently
signed a contract for a joint venture for activities in China.
This joint venture will in its turn acquire an interest in the
Shanghai Mila Brewery. The Heineken activities will be
concentrated on the Yimin Brewery in Shanghai, which is
part of the Shanghai Mila Brewery. The joint venture
between Heineken, the Chia Tai Group from Thailand, and
Beverages Investments, in which Heineken's partner is the
Fraser Neave soft drinks group, will be investing some sixty
million guilders in the Shanghai Mila Brewery.
International personnel magazine. Published six times a year in Dutch. English. Spanish and Italian by: Corporate Public Relations, Heineken N.V., P.O. Box 28, 1000 AA Amsterdam. Tel. 020-70.22.68. Spain
Heineken takes stake in
Shanghai brewery
The Yimin Brewery is China's
biggest, with an output ofl2 million
hectolitres a year.
1 billion inhabitants and 70 million
hectolitres of beer is currently
brewed throughout China.
Demand is expected to show
further strong growth. The time
was therefore ripe for Heineken to
gain a rapid insight into the local
brewing industry and culture. In
the philosophy of the Heineken
management this can only be
achieved by actually being present
on the market. There are certainly
no plans for Heineken beer to be
brewed in the Yimin Brewery.
I
Reeb is the beer brand produced by
Shanghai's Yimin Brewery. A team
headed by HTB specialist G. Sloot
weg will start work next year on
improving the beer's quality.
Heineken is the first brewer to
invest share capital in China. Of the
total investment, Heineken's share
will be several million guilders.
That money will be spent on setting
up and providing technical training
courses for the personnel and on
the transfer of know-how to
improve the brewing process. The
main aim of this is to give the Reeb
beer brand a more consistent
quality. To achieve this HTB
specialist G. Slootweg will be
stationed in Shanghai as general
manager starting on 1st January
1989.
With a capacity of 1.2 million
hectolitres, the Yimin Brewery is
the biggest brewery in the People's
Republic of China. Should the need
arise, the brewery's capacity can
even be doubled.
In view of the small scale of the
project the transaction should be
seen as an initial toe-dip by Heine
ken to test the waters on the
Chinese market. And it's certainly
a gigantic market. China has almost
The bottling hall of the Yimin Brewery in Shanghai.
Malayan Breweries Limited
(in which Heineken holds an
80% interest together with
partner Fraser Neave) intends
to merge its Malaysian activities
with those of Guinness PLC,
London. The aim is that the local
company Malayan Breweries
Malaysia, a wholly owned
subsidiary of MBL, will be fully
integrated with Guinness
Malaysia Berhad (GMB), in
which 50.01% of the shares are
held by Guinness PLC. The new
Company will trade under the
name Guinness Anchor.
Completion of the merger will
strengthen the base for the two
companies on the Malaysian
market with their strong range of
brands, including Guinness,
Heineken, Anchor and Tiger.
Over the next 3 years the new
company plans to invest some 45
million guilders in modernising
the brewery in Kuala Lumpur.
This is not the first time that
Heineken has worked together
with Guinness. The two groups
already have joint ventures in
other parts of the world - for
instance in Indonesia and on the
Bahamas - where the local
market situation warrants such a
joint approach.
Getting to know more about the
Heineken company last month
meant that the agents of Murphy's
Brewery Ireland ended up by
getting to know Mr. A.H. Heine
ken in person. The group paid a
visit on 4 November to the Heine
ken brewery in Zoeterwoude.
Whilst in the brewery's reception
area they not only shook hands with
Mr. Heineken but also had a
chanj^to congratulate him on his
65th birthday. Our photo captures
the meeting between Mr. Heine
ken and the agents and several staff
from Murphy's.