Carlsberg plans investment and expansion to consolidate Okocim's position

Danish brewer Carlsberg has called a public bid for a 49.99% stake in Okocim, Poland's third largest brewery. Carlsberg, which as Okocim's strategic partner since 1996 already controls the remaining 50.01% of the company, has offered a price of zl.16.25 per share. Speaking at a news conference in Warsaw, Carlsberg officials said that the Danish company plans to invest zl.80 million this year in improving Okocim's production technology and capacity. Okocim, with a 7% share of the domestic beer market, faces fierce competition from Heineken-controlled Zywiec, and Kompania Piwowarska, which is controlled by South African Breweries. Each of these two competitors controls some 30% of the Polish beer market. Torban Kjaer, the executive in charge of Carlsberg's operations in Poland, said he believed that Okocim would be able to build a strong third position on the market. He suggested that Okocim needed to have a double-digit percentage share of the market, but he did not expect to achieve this within the year. The income of Okocim brewery in the first quarter of 2001 amounted to almost zl.70 million, around 25% up from the same period of last year. (Puls Biznesu, p.17; Reuters) A.D.