Austrian Brau Union gets green light to take over Browary Warszawskie

The Interior Ministry (MSWiA) has finally granted permission to Austrian brewer Brau Union (BU) to invest its capital in Warsaw's Browary Warszawskie (BW) brewery. BU has been waiting almost 10 months for this decision, which will enable it to purchase the BW shares which were bought last year for the Austrian firm by the BW management from the company's employees. BU will take control over BW, since it is purchasing almost 100% of its shares. The cost of the transaction is estimated at zl.65 million. BU has promised that it will invest zl.200 million in BW within three years, with the money to be spent on the brewery's modernization, expansion of production capacity, and employee training. Having previously purchased almost all the shares of Van Pur brewery and 24% of Kujawiak brewery in Bydgoszcz, BU is now in the process of creating its own group of breweries in Poland. (Puls Biznesu, p.10) A.D.