The iconic Australian brewer CUB (Carlton & United Breweries), which produces well known beers such as Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Great Northern, Cascade and Crown Lager has been sold by its European owners to Japan's Asahi for $US11.3 billion ($16 billion).

The deal was announced on Friday by Asahi and CUB's former owner, Belgian based multinational Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The iconic Australian beermaker CUB has been sold by its European owner to Japanese beermaker Asahi. Credit:Photo: Gabriele Charotte

CUB is based in Melbourne and is an iconic Australian name. In Victoria it makes beer at the sprawling brewery in Abbotsford on the Yarra River, near the edge of the Melbourne CBD, where beer has made made for more than a century. It also has other breweries around the country, including the Cascade brewery in Hobart.

Thee beermaker was bought by Foster's 15 years ago, which in turn was bought by South African brewing giant SABMiller in 2011. Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is listed in New York but headquartered in Belgium, then acquired SABMiller in 2016.