the largest
takeover
in Heineken's
history...
...additional platform for excellent and
sustainable financial performance...
KARL BUCHE AND THONY
"An additional platform for excellent and sustainable financial
performance." Heineken's Chairman of the Executive Board
Thony Ruys showed his delight during the press conference held
in Vienna on May 2nd, 2003, to mark what has meanwhile been
described as the largest takeover in Heineken's history: the acqui
sition of the Austrian brewing giant BBAG for 1.9 billion euros.
BBAG, Brau-Beteiligungs-Aktiengesellschaft, owns breweries in five
Central European countries: in its home market of Austria, as well
as in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. Several
years after the close of World War I, all breweries found it difficult
to keep their heads above water because of the depressed state
of the economy. They decided to join forces and operate further
under the name Braubank AG. That laid the foundations for a
brewery group that expanded within a few decades to become
one of the leading brewing and soft drinks companies in Central
Europe. BBAG consists of three divisions: real estate, soft drinks
and - by far the most important - beer.
BBAG has a broad portfolio of brands, with as most important ones
Gösser, Zipfer, Kaiser, Edelweiss (white beer), Starobrno and
Schlossgold. Each day more than seven thousand employees are
busy brewing, filling, distributing and selling a total of sixteen beer
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