The Independent Brewers Association says independent brewers have been “dealt a further blow” during COVID-19 by the ACCC allowing the CUB takeover by Asahi.
The ACCC announced yesterday that it would not oppose the sale, subject to Asahi divesting two of its beer brands and three of its cider brands – Strongbow, Bonamy’s, Little Green cider, Stella Artois and Beck’s – in Australia.
“We determined that Asahi selling the beer and cider brands would be sufficient to address our competition concerns and provide an opportunity for another business to play an important role in a relatively concentrated industry,”ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
The IBA said it remains strongly opposed to the CUB takeover by Asahi, which it believes will decrease competition and consumer choice in pubs.
“The move by Asahi to acquire CUB is an admission that this space is already too concentrated and that the only way to break into the draught beer market is to acquire businesses with existing tap contracts,” said Peter Philip, IBA Chair.
The IBA said Asahi had made a “token undertaking” by agreeing to divest Beck’s and Stella Artois.
In an IBA submission to the ACCC, the IBA said that divestment of these two brands “make up such a small percentage of taps in pubs as to be meaningless in balancing out the anti-competitive nature of the acquisition”.
“It’s really disappointing to see that the ACCC thinks that the profit of big multinational businesses outweigh the impact that this merger will have on small family-owned Aussie brewers,” Philip said.
He added that the IBA will be taking the issue to “the highest levels of Government”.
“All we’re asking for is a level playing field, surely having an open and competitive beer market is good for consumers,” he said. “Isn’t the role of the ACCC to ensure Australian’s have the widest choice of beers available at the best price?”
The CUB takeover still requires the approval of the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Asahi has established a standalone, independent business unit to help manage the divestment of the beer and cider brands.
