Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is tying up a deal to buy Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s South Korean brewer Oriental Brewery for around $1.8 billion, according to a report on Reuters.
An OB official told Reuters that the deal would be signed by the end of the week.
The sale of the unlisted brewery would reportedly give AB-InBev a $1 billion profit. AB-InBev spent 1.15 trillion won ($884 million) in 1998 for a 100% stake in the company.
After competing against other private equity bidders MBK Partners and Affinity Equity Partners, which controls around 40% of South Korea’s beer market, KKR became the preferred bidder.
Last month, KKR and KKR Private Equity Investors extended the date by which the pending acquisition of KPE by KKR is required to be completed, to 31 August 2009 from 27 April.
D.C.