SABMiller Seeks to Repeat Its Hop on the Global Beer Brand Wagon
U.K.-Based Brewer Could Seek a Takeover or Expand From One of Its Existing Stable of Beers
LONDON—In 2002, soon after acquiring Miller Brewing Co. from Philip Morris Cos., the newly formed SABMiller PLC unveiled its plan for world beer domination: It launched Pilsner Urquell—a premium Czech lager—into the U.S. market.
In doing so, SAB was breaking with its past. The U.K.-based brewer had become the world’s second-biggest beer company by stocking up on popular local brands in countries like Ecuador, Poland and Tanzania. With Pilsner Urquell, it wanted to build a global beer brand.
Beers with a global footprint are rare but have clear advantages over local labels. The tried-and-trusted marketing strategies and distribution channels of a world beer like Budweiser or Heineken make it easier to launch into new markets, a key consideration. They can also be sold for much higher prices than local brews.
That explains why SAB is back in the hunt for a global beer. In September, Heineken NV said it rejected a takeover approach from the British company in a deal potentially worth $40 billion. Heineken’s namesake lager brand is coveted because it is sold—often at premium prices—in more than 100 countries.
SAB does have an alternative to spending billions on an established brand: It could expand one from its existing stable. Its big brands include Miller Genuine Draft, Grolsch and Peroni, an Italian lager that is the focus of SAB’s latest high-end expansion efforts.
But the brewer has a patchy history of trying to create global brands. SAB spent $20 million on the U.S. rollout of Pilsner Urquell, but it was a “total flop,” said Nick Fell, the company’s marketing director. That was one of several failed attempts by SAB in the early 2000s to grow its own global beer.
“In the early days, we handled a global premium brand in exactly the same way as we handed a local brand,” Mr. Fell said. “We put it into mass distribution, we pumped a lot of basic advertising and promotion behind it. And then we failed.”
To be sure, SAB does own a 49% stake in the world’s top-selling beer, China’s Snow. But Snow has limited appeal and distribution outside its homeland. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the world’s No. 1 brewer by sales, owns four of the world’s top 10 beers, including Budweiser and Corona.
For years, SAB’s local approach has contrasted with the focus on building global megabrands at AB InBev. As well as Budweiser, the Belgian brewer owns Bud Light and Stella Artois. SAB has Club Premium, the top-selling lager in Mozambique, and St. Louis, Botswana’s favorite beer brand.
SAB executives insist local brands are still its best route to success. “We remain convinced beer is a fundamentally local business,” Chief Executive Alan Clark told The Wall Street Journal last year.
But the company’s recent Heineken approach—as well as expanded budgets and international distribution for Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni—suggests SAB is modifying that view.
“The only thing that’s really missing on the scene, especially as [SAB] takes more of its brands across borders within regions, is a truly global beer brand,” said Chris Wickham, an analyst at Oriel Securities.
In part, SAB’s change of tack reflects increasing competition among major brewers to sell to consumers in markets where beer consumption is low, especially in Africa and Asia. Africa alone will have 65 million more legal drinkers by 2023, according to the African Development Bank.
Another reason for SAB’s renewed interest in a world-wide brand: It would make the company less susceptible to a long-rumored takeover bid from AB InBev. Mr. Clark last month rejected that theory, saying the move for Heineken was “assertive, not defensive.” AB InBev has declined to comment on the deal speculation.
Either way, buying Heineken seems an unlikely solution for SAB. The Heineken family owns just over 50% of the parent company and has said it is unlikely to sell, meaning SAB may look elsewhere for a blockbuster beer brand. Industry analysts have speculated that SAB could target Turkey’s Anadolu Efes , in which it already owns a 24% stake. Efes is Turkey’s No. 1 beer and has a strong presence in Russia, with the potential for expansion in Asia, experts say.
If SAB can’t buy a global beer, it plans another attempt at building one, executives at the company said. In recent years, SAB has invested heavily in Peroni and given another push to Pilsner Urquell throughout Europe and the U.S.
In the U.K., Peroni has succeeded through a premium pricing strategy—a draft pint sells for around £5.50 ($8.73)—and by using ads that target women as much as men. U.K. sales of the beer—which SAB insists is served in a bespoke Peroni glass—increased 15% in the six months ended September. SAB said it doesn’t break out specific sales figures for its brands.
SAB has similar plans for Peroni in the U.S., already its third-largest market outside Italy. The brand is “growing strongly” and has the potential to take price increases, said Mr. Fell, SAB’s marketing director.
“We want to behave as if we were Ferrari, or Armani, or Gucci,” he said. “We don’t want to attract 25-year-old plumbers who are quite happy being plumbers.”
