Lion to brew Kirin beer in China, Aust.


Kirin is following up its December deal with the Philippines' San Miguel Corp with a licensing arrangement in Australia

By CNN's Geoff Hiscock
Asia business editor

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australasian beer and wine company Lion Nathan will brew Japan's Kirin beer for the Australian and Chinese beer markets, Lion Nathan confirmed Monday.

Kirin Brewery, Japan's biggest beermaker, holds about 46 percent of Lion Nathan, which is active in the Australian, New Zealand and Chinese beer markets.

Kirin is also taking a 15 percent stake in the Philippines food and beverage giant, San Miguel Corp, as part of its expansion plans in the Asia Pacific region.

A spokesman for Lion Nathan told CNN the company's Sydney plant was now doing some trial brewing of Kirin's Ichibanshibori beer and was confident production under a licensing arrangement would begin soon.

Lion Nathan's two breweries in China, at Suzhou and Wuxi, now produce 85 million liters of beer a year. They will also brew the Kirin brand for the important Yangzi Valley market centered on Shanghai.

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The Lion Nathan spokesman, Warwick Bryan, said Kirin's Ichibanshibori label would be a good addition to its premium brands in Australia.

But he said the likely initial annual production in Australia of 30,000 cases, or about 250,000 liters, was only a small part of Lion Nathan's annual beer output of 1.7 billion liters.

Lion's biggest brands include Tooheys, Hahn and XXXX in Australia, and Lion and Steinlager in New Zealand.

Lion also has Australasian wine interests, including Montana, Petaluma and Banksia.

Reports of the licensing arrangement first appeared on Sunday in the Japanese business daily, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

The newspaper said production of Kirin beer in Australia under the licensing arrangement would gradually be increased.

The newspaper also said Kirin planned to negotiate similar beer production arrangements with San Miguel, which has plants in China, Vietnam and Indonesia, as well as the Philippines.

Shares in Lion Nathan were down 4 cents or 0.8 percent to A$4.83 on the Australian stock market Monday afternoon.