SABMiller buys Kingway's breweries

Multinational beer maker SABMiller’s (SAB.LON) joint venture in China will buy US$851 million in assets from Kingway Brewery Holdings (0124.HKG) in a bid to expand its share of the world’s biggest beverage market, Bloomberg reported. The deal will give China Resources Snow Breweries, co-owned by SABMiller and government-backed China Resource Enterprise, control of Kingway’s production and sales units, including seven breweries. The transaction cost also includes US$33 million worth of loans. “Kingway is currently loss-making, but we believe we made a right decision,” Chen Lang, chairman of China Resources Enterprise said. “We have a track record of turning things around in three to five years.”