Asahi to buy New Zealand's RTD alcohol beverage specialist

Japanese brewing giant Asahi Group Holdings is on the verge of buying New Zealand's RTD alcoholic beverages company Independent Liquor, as the Japanese group moves on with plans to expand in Asia and Oceania.

The brewing major has plans to acquire all shares of Independent Liquor from its owners Unitas and Pacific Equity Partners for CNY100bn (about $1.3bn), Nikkei Business Daily reported.

Independent Liquor's product portfolio includes RTD beverages, spirits, liqueurs, beer and wine. The group's brand family features Woodstock bourbon, Whyte & Mackay scotch, Carlsberg and Tuborg beers, and pre-mixed drinks in New Zealand and Australia.

The New Zealand company we began selling to the Australian market in 1997 and established production in Sydney in 2000, and later in Melbourne in 2001. Its products have market presence in Asia, Europe and North America. The RTD specialist is looking to expand into the US and China.

Japanese beverage companies are now eying international expansion owing to slump in sales in domestic market as consumption levels have fallen down drastically by the country's shrinking and ageing population.

Also, the growing power of yen is strengthening the purchasing power of Japanese companies, helping them in their attempts to expand overseas. Asahi already boasts a good market position in the Australian soft drink market through Schweppes Australia, which it acquired in 2009.

The Japanese company is intending to increase group revenues to CNY2-2.5tn by 2015 and to gain nearly 30% of its sales overseas, according to Bloomberg.