FDBusiness.com

Baltika Breweries has filed an application to have its shares delisted from the Russian stock exchange as soon as possible. The delisting reflects Carlsberg Group’s aim to increase its ownership in the Russian brewer from around 85% to 100%. The move is costing up to DKr6.5 billion with a net cost for the Carlsberg Group in 2012 and beyond of maximum DKr4.4 billion (Eur590 million) due to a positive impact from financial arrangements.

Russia is the world’s fourth largest beer market and the Carlsberg Group firmly believes in the longterm market and profit pool growth opportunities. The transaction is in line with the Carlsberg Group’s strategy of having 100% ownership of its most important subsidiaries to achieve greater operational flexibility.

By having 100% ownership of Baltika, the company can be fully integrated into the Carlsberg Group which will speed up the implementation of decisions and also make Baltika a vital part of the back-end integration which the group has accelerated recently. Carlsberg Group expects the transaction to be immediately earnings-enhancing when completed.