Anheuser sells CCU stake for $299 million

Modern Brewery Age, Nov 29, 2004

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. has sold its 20 percent stake in Chilean brewer CCU for $299 million in an auction on the Santiago Stock Exchange. Anheuser-Busch originally paid $320.7 million for the shares.

The company had announced in March that it would sell the stake, after Heineken bought a part of CCU last year.

Two Chilean brokerage firms won the auction for A-B's 63.6 million shares of the stock. Anheuser had been the second-largest stakeholder, with the Heineken joint venture holding 61.6 percent.

CCU was a strategic asset for foreign brewers like A-B and Heineken, since it holds 90 percent of the domestic Chilean market. It brews Cristal, Escudo, Cordoba and Schneider beers in Argentina.