Acquiring four European premium brewers — Peroni and Grolsch (2016)

An antitrust sale that put a staple up for grabs

What makes this acquisition interesting is that Asahi turned the byproduct of another company’s giant merger into an opportunity. As AB InBev swallowed SABMiller, what it was forced to let go — in order to clear antitrust review — was a set of premium brands long established across Europe. Staple brands with deep histories do not normally come onto the market; here, because of the antitrust remedy, they became available all at once, as a package. Asahi stepped in as the buyer and took four Western European companies.

It was a decision to reproduce, with established European brands, the very approach by which Asahi had won a mature market at home with Super Dry. At about ¥329 billion, the four Western European companies cost far less than the roughly ¥900 billion Asahi would pour into Central and Eastern Europe the following year — but it was the first move to plant a foothold in Europe. From here, the attempt to transplant the domestic playbook — take a position in a mature market and earn through premiumization — began in earnest overseas.