SABMiller beats out Heineken in South America
The contest for the dwindling number of national beer brands continues on. Massive UK-based beermaker SABMiller just announced the purchase of Colombian brewer Grupo Empresarial Bavaria, in a $5.6 billion. The Colombian company is the #2 brewer in South America. It is dominant especially in its home country and in Peru, Ecuador, and Panama.. SABMiller reportedly beat out Heinken, another beer company that has gone global.
The #1 brewer in South America, Brazilian-centered Ambev, was bought out last year by SABMiller's biggest rival, Belgian-based Interbrew, which promptly changed its name to InBev. That purchase made the company the largest in the world, now ahead of US-based Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) and SABMiller.
The map is being filled in, with the InBev, Anheuser-Busch, and SABMiller predominating, and companies like Heineken and Carlsberg desperately trying to held on. Third World markets are still not fully developed, unlike the US and Europe, where beer sales have flatlined. Each of the biggest companies is hoping to be one of the two or three survivors.
10:39:36 PM 
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