Piast brewer confirms he is holding talks with Carlsberg
Ryszard Varisella, majority owner of Browary Dolnoslaskie, the producer of
Piast beer, has officially confirmed that he is in negotiations on the sale
of the brewery to Carlsberg. However, Varisella said that it could take up
to two months to finalize the negotiations. If Carlsberg, which already owns
a majority stake in the Okocim group, succeeds in the Piast acquisition, it
would control 11% of the Polish beer market, giving it a comfortable third
place behind the two giants, Kompania Piwowarska and Grupa Zywiec, each with
over 30%. Okocim has set itself the target of a 15% market share, which
analysts say will be difficult to achieve without additional acquisitions,
given the highly competitive state of the Polish beer market. (Prawo I
Gospodarka, July 7-8, p. 13) T.J.
