SABMiller Acquires Sarmat Brewery

SABMiller plc, one of the biggest world beer producers, said that it acquires a 99.8% stake in Sarmat, Ukrainian brewery, which is a part of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group. The price for the stake is not disclosed. After the closure of the deal, SABMiller will take over a brewery plant in Donetsk with capacities of USD 29 mln dal. Olha Pankiv: We expected the acquisition of Sarmat by a multinational brewery not producing in Ukraine to result in growing market share of Sarmat, and were taking it into account when valuing Sun Interbrew (SUNI: BUY) and Slavutich (SLAV: BUY). We see potential for further growth in both Ukraine’s traded beer stocks, and confirm BUY recommendation.