20th October, 2015 by Lucy Jenkins
Tsingtao brewery announced yesterday it is to buy the 50% stake that it doesn’t own in its loss-making joint venture with Suntory Holdings for 822.9m Yuan (HK$129.5m).

Tsingtao said the stake purchase deal includes Suntory Tsingtao Brewery (Shanghai) Co Ltd and Tsingtao Brewery Suntory (Shanghai) Sales Co Ltd, from Suntory.

Trouble could be brewing for the beverage giants as they face stiff competition from other international brands and sluggish sales even though the Asian beer market is set to grow to $202bn by the year 2020 – largely driven by China’s consumption.

The Chinese company will enter into a separate agreement for the rights to use Suntory’s trademarks for a license term agreed by both parties, it said in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong bourse – though the deal is subject to approval by the Ministry of Commerce, it said. 

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