Fraser & Neave Ltd.’s shareholders voted to sell its stake in Asia Pacific Breweries to Heineken NV, giving the Dutch company control of the Tiger beer maker after a two-month tussle with a Thai billionaire.
The shareholders approved the deal at a meeting in Singapore today.
The vote gives Heineken control of a key beer business as it pushes to boost sales from emerging markets. Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi set off a fight for F&N and its brewing assets when he agreed to buy a stake in the conglomerate in July.
APB has rights to brew Bintang beer in Indonesia, Anchor in China, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, and Heineken from China to New Zealand. Heineken has the smallest emerging-markets presence of the world’s big three brewers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Heineken in August raised its offer for APB, which it already partially owns, to $53 a share from $50. The higher US$4.4 billion ($5.4 billion) bid followed an offer from a company controlled by Charoen’s son-in-law to buy a 7.3% stake in the Tiger beer maker for $55 a share.
Charoen, who this month made a $9 billion offer to buy the rest of F&N, had pledged to back Heineken’s purchase of the brewer.
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