THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 16, 2022 at 15:53 JST
A man walks near an advertisement of a Kirin brand beer in Tokyo on Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo)
Kirin is selling its China soft drinks joint venture to an investment fund, the Japanese beer and beverage maker said Wednesday.
The move comes shortly after Kirin decided to pull out of a joint venture brewery in Myanmar.
The sale to Plateau Consumer, a Chinese fund, for 115 billion yen ($994 million) covers Kirin’s entire 40 percent stake in China Resources Kirin Beverages, Tokyo-based Kirin said in a statement.
The joint venture, established in 2011, had been expanding its business in China, making bottled water and bottled tea, according to Kirin Holdings Co.
Kirin said the move was part of its recent decision to review its investment portfolio, including foreign operations, under a management plan that runs through 2024.
The plan has the company focusing on certain areas, including pharmaceuticals and health science as well as food and beverages.
More recently, Kirin has been trying to streamline its sprawling operations to focus on projects like developing drugs for diseases that have no existing treatments and working on what Kirin calls LC-Plasma to offer health products that help maintain immune systems.
Kirin is among Japan’s top beer brands, but beer companies here have in recent decades expanded into other kinds of beverages. It still has various global operations, including Four Roses Distillery in the U.S. and San Miguel Brewery in the Philippines.
Japan’s Kirin to withdraw from its Myanmar brewery venture
February 14, 2022
Kirin files to end partnership with firm linked to Myanmar junta
December 7, 2021
Kirin seeking arbitration to end venture linked to Myanmar military
December 6, 2021
Pandemic wipes out momentum of craft beer brewers in Japan
February 19, 2021
Lemon-flavored drinks taking a bigger slice of alcohol market
October 3, 2021
Heavy drinkers force Kirin Brewery to charge for tours
August 1, 2021
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
