Asia Brewery may go public next year

Taipan Lucio Tan plans to open Asia Brewery Inc,, the second largest brewery in the country, to the public possibly next year. Tan said the move is aimed at raising more funds to finance the continued expansion of its products and further increase its market share.

Asia Brewery produces malt beverages like beer, shandy, iced tea, bottled water and carbonated soft drinks. Its sister company Tanduay Distillers, Inc. produces hard liquor.

So far, six companies of the Lucio Tan Group are listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, namely: Philippine National Bank, Allied Bank, MacroAsia, PAL Holdings (formerly Baguio Gold), Eton Properties Philippines (formerly Balabac Resources), and Tanduay Holdings Inc.

Asia Brewery offers eight beers in the Philippines with its flagship brand Beer na Beer which was launched in 1988 as Beer Pale Pilsen. The company changed its name to Beer na Beer after it was sued by competitors as the term beer is general. Its seven licensed beers are sold in a somewhat limited scale, but its Colt 45 brand, launched in 1995, is the biggest among them. This malt liquor’s biggest competitor is Red Horse Extra Strong from San Miguel.

Asia Brewery’s other licensed brands are Carlsberg (the brewery’s first beer in 1987), Lone Star (launched in 2000), Lone Star Light (2002), Colt Ice (2003), Lone Star ULTRA (the country’s first low-carb beer, launched in 2004 and Stag.

According to its advertisements, Beer na Beer was preferred by nine out of 10 people in a blind test. Its high quality and attractive pricing strategy made it the second biggest selling beer in the market. In 2001, Beer na Beer was reformulated and now, it has six percent alcohol.

Asia Brewery offers distilled and mineral water under the Absolute and Summit brands.

The company ventured into the low-priced soda business after acquiring a license to produce Virgin Cola from Virgin Drinks.

Asia Brewery’s plant in Cabuyao, Laguna is one of the biggest and most modern fully integrated manufacturing plants in Southeast Asia. Located 45 kms southeast of Manila, the plant is designed to process an annual production capacity of four million hectoliters of beer.