SABMiller set to unveil bid for Columbia's Bavaria

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2005

LONDON (AFP) — Britain-based brewer SABMiller was set to announce a bid for Grupo Empresarial Bavaria, valuing Colombia's largest drinks group at about 7.0 billion dollars (5.8 billion euros).

Industry sources told AFP's financial news subsidiary AFX News that the deal would be announced early on Tuesday.

SABMiller had outbid Dutch rival Heineken to secure control of Bavaria and a deal was near, according to the Financial Times website on Monday. An agreement could be reached this week, it added.

Bavaria -- which is 70-percent owned by Julio Santo Domingo, one of Colombia's best-known businessmen -- has attracted interest from SABMiller and Heineken, the third and fourth biggest global brewers respectively.

The potential 7.0-billion-dollar sale of...