Sabeco (brewery)

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SABECO
legal form Tổng Công ty Cổ phần ( public limited company )
founding 1875/79 (brewery)
2003 (SABECO group)
2008 (public limited company)
Seat Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
management Koh Poh Tiong ( Chair of the Board ) ,
Neo Gim Siong Bennett ( CEO )
Number of employees 7877
sales VND 37.016 billion
Branch beverages
Website www.sabeco.com.vn
As of December 31, 2018

SABECO ( Saigon Beer - Alcohol - Beverage Corporation , Vietnamese Tổng Công ty Cổ phần Bia - Rượu - Nước giải khát Sài Gòn , "Public Company for Beer, Alcohol and Soft Drinks Saigon") based in Ho Chi Minh City is the largest Beverage manufacturer and the largest brewery in Vietnam as well as the third largest food company in the country after Vinamilk and Masan . The former state-owned company was restructured into a stock corporation in 2008, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange from the end of 2016, and a year later the majority was taken over by ThaiBev . The main brands are Bia Saigon and 333 .

history

Under French management

The history of the Saigon brewery goes back to the initial phase of French colonial rule : around 1875, the young Victor Larue came to the colony of Cochinchina as a mechanic in the French navy . He settled in Saigon- Cholon and founded a small business for the production of ice and chilled and carbonated beverages here - presumably after his service ended in 1879. He was soon also brewing beer, which he sold as Bière Royale with a tiger logo. His drinks quickly found great acceptance among colonial officers suffering from the tropical climate. From 1880 Victor Larue was supported by his younger brother Gabriel. After the final subjugation of the Vietnamese Empire in the Tonkin War , the company, now known as Établissements Larue , expanded from 1885 to Hanoi , Haiphong and Tourane (ẵà Nẵng) as well as to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

In the years 1909/10, the Saigon-Cholon site, which had reached its capacity limit, was expanded into a large, modern brewery and ice cream factory . For the first time, beer could now be brewed on an industrial scale. After Victor Larue's death, the business was taken over by the trading house Denis Frères . In September 1927, the new owners merged with the Hommel Brewery in Hanoi to form the Brasseries et Glacières d'Indochine company (BGI, Indochinese breweries and ice cream factories). In the following decades, BGI developed into the most important beverage producer in the French colonial empire . In addition to the Bière Larue , the 33 Export brand was brewed in Saigon .

With the end of French colonial rule as a result of the Indochina War in 1954, the branches in North Vietnam were lost; the headquarters in Saigon and the branch in Đà Nng, however, were in the area of southern Vietnam and remained in the possession of BGI. The company continued to be the largest brewery in the country and employed around 4,000 people. During the Vietnam War , 33 (pronounced Ba Muoi Ba ) was the most popular beer among US soldiers.

State enterprise

After the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the reunification of Vietnam, all companies were nationalized . The breweries of South Vietnam went into the state-owned Southern Brewery Society ( Công ty Rượu Bia Miền Nam ). The Saigon location was organized in 1977 as the Saigon Beer Factory ( Nhà máy Bia Sài Gòn , BSG Factory ). During the years of the planned economy, the Vietnamese brewing industry was generally clearly shaped by the Czech Republic, as there was close cooperation between the two countries in the context of mutual economic aid. The first canned beer was bottled in 1985 .

From 1986 market economy reforms were initiated in Vietnam under the catchphrase Đổi mới . The companies were now able to export their products to western countries, which led to a large increase in production. At the beginning of 1992, a new production line was put into operation in the Saigon brewery. Plastic tanks were now used instead of wooden ones. The filling speed increased to 30,000 bottles per hour. Presumably for trademark reasons, the beer brewed in Vietnam was now sold as 333 (pronounced Ba Ba Ba ) and Bia Saigon ( Saigon Lager ) (the rights to the original beer brands Bière Larue and 33 Export were transferred from BGI to the Heineken Group).

In 1993 the Saigon brewery merged with the neighboring ice cream factory and the machine factory responsible for can production to form the Saigon beer company ( Công ty Bia Sài Gòn ). In 1996 and 1999, respectively, the new brands Saigon Export and Saigon Special were introduced.

Creation of SABECO, IPO and takeover

In 2003 the SABECO Group was created through the merger of the companies Saigon-Bier, Bình-Tây-Spirituosen, Chương-Dương-Soft drinks, Phú-Thọ-glass bottle production and the beer-alcohol-trading company Saigon. In 2008 the state-owned company was converted into a joint-stock company . In the same year, a new, modern, large-scale brewery went into operation in the Củ Chi district .

In December 2016, SABECO was floated on the stock exchange ( HOSE - ticker symbol : SAB). One year later, in December 2017, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), which until then held around 90 percent of the shares, sold just under 54 percent of SABECO for 4.84 billion US dollars to the Thai brewery group ThaiBev ( Chang -Beer). It was the largest company takeover in Vietnam. Since a regulation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance limited foreign holdings to a maximum of 49%, the sale was made to the formally independent holding company VietBev , which had been set up for this purpose and had borrowed the necessary money from another ThaiBev subsidiary. Other international brewery groups had also shown interest in SABECO in advance, but had dropped out of the bidding competition due to the strict state requirements.

The takeover did not go smoothly. Many Vietnamese saw the sale as the end of a traditional Vietnamese company; sales therefore initially collapsed noticeably. There was also a dispute over the composition of the reorganized board of directors , as the Vietnamese government initially rejected the ThaiBev candidates. An independent Vietnamese economist commented critically that the government had sold the majority of the company abroad and only then discovered that it had thereby also lost control of the company's management.

After overcoming the initial crisis, the takeover, which was risky for both sides, clearly paid off. SABECO was able to significantly expand its sales under Thai leadership and was responsible for almost half of ThaiBev's total revenue at the beginning of 2019. The Vietnamese government finally approved a ThaiBev majority on the board, paving the way for the full takeover. In December 2018, the end of the upper limit for foreign investments was announced, whereupon ThaiBev took over the holding company VietBev in full by swapping debt participation in January 2019 . A month later, ThaiBev announced that they wanted to get 99 percent of SABECO.

The Vietnamese government now regards the takeover as a successful model and tries to sell the majority of the northern state brewery HABECO (Hanoi beer) to Carlsberg in a similar way .

Market situation

Bia Saigon Special

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing beer markets in the world. Per capita consumption ranks third in Asia behind Japan and China.

Four brewery groups make up about 90% of the market. SABECO / ThaiBev is the largest brewery with 1.796 million liters (2018) and 40% market coverage and dominates the south of the country. In the north, HABECO ( Hanoi ) has similar market coverage. The largest producer in Central Vietnam is the Hue brewery with the Huda brand . Both HABECO and Hue cooperate with Carlsberg. The Heineken group dominates with its brands Heineken and Tiger the premium segment and are brewing in Da Nang, the former Saigon brand beers Larue .

On an international level, SABECO is active in more than 30 countries, particularly in the East Asian-Pacific region , North America, West Africa and Europe. In Europe, SABECO sponsors the English football club Leicester City .

Products

Saigon export

SABECO produces the beer brands 333 Export (5.3% alcohol) and Bia Saigon . The latter is available in the variants Saigon Lager (4%; green-white label), Saigon Special (4.9%; green label), Saigon Export (4.9%; red-white label) and Saigon Gold (“premium lager beer “With 5%). With the exception of the more expensive types (Special, Gold), all beers are brewed with a portion of rice.

Various soft drinks and water are sold under the Chương Dương brand .

For stronger alcohol there are the brands Nàng Hương (vodka and other spirits), Vina Vodka (vodka), Napoleon (brandy), Caravelle Red Rhum (rum) and Rượu Đế ( rice schnapps ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g SABECO Annual Report 2018
  2. ↑ MSCI VIETNAM INDEX (as of October 2019, based on market capitalization )
  3. ↑ Mark Dredge: A Brief History of Lager: 500 Years of the World's Favorite Beer , Kyle Books, London 2019, pp. 167-170
  4. ↑ entreprises-coloniales.fr: Victorin et Gabriel LARUE FRÈRES, Saïgon , HANOÏ, HAÏPHONG, TOURANE (accessed December 2019)
  5. ↑ entreprises-coloniales.fr: BRASSERIES ET GLACIÈRES DE L'INDOCHINE (accessed December 2019)
  6. ↑ L'Express , Yves Stavrides: De l'Indochine au Vietnam . April 26, 2004.
  7. ↑ Vietcetera: Cheers Through the Ages: Vietnam's Beer Evolution . 1st February 2019.
  8. ↑ Stephen Beaumont, Tim Webb: Pocket Beer Book 2014 , Hachette UK, London 2013, entry "Vietnam"
  9. ↑ VnExpress International Anh Minh: Vietnam's large largest brewer a foreign owned business now. 5th January 2019.
  10. ↑ Reuters : Global brewers line up bids for Vietnam's Sabeco sale - sources. December 10, 2017.
  11. ^ Reuters, Khanh Vu: Trouble brews on Sabeco beer board after ThaiBev complaint. March 30, 2018
  12. ^ Beverage Daily, Richard Whitehead: Vietnamese brewer records remarkable comeback on ThaiBev balance sheet. March 13, 2019.
  13. ↑ Vietnam Investment Review, Nam Phuong: Thai Beverage vows to overhaul Sabeco following $ 5-billion takeover. July 21, 2018.
  14. ↑ VnExpress International, Dat Nguyen: Vietnam okays unrestricted foreign ownership of largest brewer. December 6, 2018.
  15. ↑ Shenton Wire, Leslie Shaffer: Thai Beverage completes restructuring of nearly US $ 5 billion loan for Sabeco acquisition. 3rd January 2019.
  16. ↑ Inside Beer: Vietnam: ThaiBev to raise stake in Sabeco's majority shareholder to 99%. 5th February 2019.
  17. ↑ Reuters: Vietnam PM urges Carlsberg to raise stake in Vietnam brewer Habeco. 13th September 2018.
  18. ↑ Vietnam Briefing, Bao Chi Huynh: Vietnam's Alcoholic Beverage Industry. February 9, 2018.
  19. ↑ Vietnam.net: Vietnamese beer market: foreign giants in control. 5th December 2018.