Tiger Beer producer to set up Brewery in India

Singapore's Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), a producer of the famous Tiger Beer brand, has teamed up with New Delhi-based Jaipuria Group to set up its second brewery in India at a cost of $ 15 million.

As a part of the move to boost company's push into the region, APB is teaming up with India's Jaipuria Beverages & Food Industries, a part of the Jaipuria Group, one of the country's largest soft drinks producers, to set up the 15-million US dollar brewery in Andhra Pradesh state, the company said in a statement on its website.

The new brewery will add more fizz in India's fifth largest state as well as the largest beer-consuming state, Andhra Pradesh, accounting for 16% of annual consumption. The state has a population of 100 million.

Listed on the Singapore Exchange, APB is one of the key players in the beer industry and holds a 67% stake in the new joint-venture entity, Pearl Breweries, which will build a greenfield brewery with an initial capacity of 250,000 hectoliters on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

The brewery is expected to be ready for operations by the end of next year. This is not the first time APB investing in India rather the recent move follows its acquisition in May of a 76% stake in Aurangabad Breweries for 18 million US dollars.

Aurangabad Breweries has two plants in the states of Maharashtra and Goa with a combined annual production capacity of nearly 250,000 hectoliters.

"India is a rapidly expanding economy and it presents exciting growth opportunities for APB," said Chief Executive Koh Poh Tiong. "As we seek to increasingly mark our footprint in the rising economy of India, it is critical that we establish a key presence in the key markets of the country," he added.

India's per capita beer consumption is less than one litre a year so it presents a considerable growth opportunity, said the brewer. APB said the initial investment in the venture is calculated to be 15 million dollars with an equity portion comprising about 10 million dollars.

APB is one of Asia's leading brewers with 26 breweries in 9 countries in the Asia Pacific area. It has breweries in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka.