Japan’s Asahi buys $7.8B worth of eastern European beer brands

Japanese beer brewer Asahi Group Holdings will buy five eastern European beer brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $7.8 billion. Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell brands such as Czech market leader Pilsner Urquell, Poland’s Tyskie and Lecher and Hungary’s Dreier. The deal would be Asahi‘s biggest acquisition and its latest purchase in Europe. The deal, which would be the largest purchase of a foreign beer operation by a Japanese brewer, is set to close in the first half of 2017.