Fraser & Neave (F&N), the Singapore food and beverage group controlled by Thai Beverage Plc, is expanding its beer business in Myanmar, according to local reports.
F&N plans to invest S$19.2 million (495 million baht) in Myanmar to build a new brewery through a joint venture with the local beverage conglomerate Win Brothers, The Irrawaddy, an independent Myanmar news service, reported on Wednesday.
Singapore-listed ThaiBev, the brewer of Chang beer, is one of the flagship companies of Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, 89. His TCC Group of companies also has extensive interests in property, ranging from One Bangkok to the Asiatique mall. The group also owns the retailer Big C and the listed trading company Berli Jucker Plc.
With a net worth estimated at $13.3 billion, Mr Charoen is the third richest person in Thailand, according to Forbes magazine.
F&N, also listed on the Singapore Exchange, already brews Chang beer in Myanmar. In a statement to the exchange, it said its new brewery would be built on 35 acres of land leased for 50 years. The location of the site and the name of the beer that will be brewed were not mentioned, The Irrawaddy said.
F&N established a joint venture, Sapphire Brewery Myanmar Ltd (SBML), with Win Brothers in March. F&N holds an 80% stake and Win Brothers holds the rest.
F&N first entered the Myanmar beer market in 1997 by buying a 55% stake in Asia Pacific Breweries. It was later bought out by its partners, the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd, for US$560 million and exited the beer business in 2015, two years after being acquired by ThaiBev.
However, ThaiBev continued to expand in Myanmar. In 2017 it acquired a 75% stake in Myanmar Distillery Co, the maker of the popular local whiskey brand Grand Royal, for US$1 billion.
F&N re-entered the Myanmar beer market in 2019, investing US$70 million to set up Emerald Brewery in Yangon to produce Chang beer with a Myanmar partner.
ThaiBev is among the foreign partners of joint ventures paying large sums in tax to the Myanmar government for their drinks businesses.
ThaiBev’s Grand Royal alone paid 25.9 billion kyats (US$14 million) in specific goods tax (SGT) in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a report by the whistleblower Distributed Denial of Secrets, citing filings from the Internal Revenue Department.