Anheuser-Busch InBev plans shopping spree in Vietnam More foreign beer will soon be flowing in Vietnam in the aftermath of the government announcement to open up the nation’s US$4.56-billion annual beer market and sell off significant chunks of state-owned brewers Sabeco and Habeco. The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said 10 foreign and local beer makers have offered to buy into Ho Chi Minh City based Sabeco since the announcement earlier this year to dispose of 53% of the state’s ownership interest. “After the sale the state will retain a non-controlling minority interest of 36%,” said the MoIT. Japanese based Asahi Kirin, London-based SABMiller, and Thai Beverage PCL are the three foreign businesses vying for a piece of the company said the MoIT, while seven domestic producers have also made overtures. The MoIT said it will also reduce its ownership interest in the nation’s second largest brewery, Habeco, from 82% to either 51 or 36% and is still entertaining a bid by Carlsberg Group out of Denmark. It has been widely reported in the media that an official with the Carlsberg Group said it is avidly interested in bumping up its ownership interest from 10% in Habeco and negotiations with the MoIT are on-going.   “The fact that the government plans to get out of the beer making business has made the market more appealing,” said Robert Tran, an executive at the business development firm of Robenny Corporation. Some soothsayers have made rather audacious claims the beer market in Vietnam will grow by 40% over the next four years but that is pretty much just pure speculation say most leading market analysts. “Still the country’s beer market has a lot of room for growth,” said Sapporo Vietnam CEO Mikio Masawaki, considering the nation’s consumers are young and its middle class will expand over the next 10 years. Its parent Sapporo Holdings has been operating a brewery out of Long An province since 2011 and Masawaki said the government divestiture of its proprietorship has given new impetus for the company to expand. The company has faced stiff competition from the market dominated by Heineken and has been operating in the red since it opened its doors— but with the government selloff  Sapporo’s management plans on a fast trajectory to the black. Anheuser-Busch InBev last May opened a US$30-million brewery in the southern province of Binh Duong. A company spokesperson has reported the US global beer giant has its eyes set on local mergers and acquisitions, with plans to go on a shopping spree and dominate the market in the very near future VOV