Increased exposure to the US is a "strong attraction" for Heineken but its buying power will be limited once the Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) deal completes, according to an analyst.

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In a note entitled 'Building in the US through the back door', Nomura hinted today (29 October) that the Dutch brewer could make a play for North American Breweries (NAB). On Friday it emergerd that NAB is being sold to Heineken-affiliated Cerveceria Costa Rica (CCR), a subsidiary of Florida Ice and Farm.

Heineken has a 25% stake in Florida Ice and Farm's main operating company, Florida Bedidas.

"It does strike us that, once the acquisition of APB completes, probably by end of 2012, Heineken will be fully geared and its ability to acquire further assets for cash is limited," Nomura said.

But it said there is "some attraction to having its associate CCR purchase the business, with its net debt not going on Heineken’s balance sheet".

Heineken has a 4% share of the US beer market, but no production base and no involvement in the fast-growing craft segment, Nomura noted.

It added: "We can see strong attractions for the company to get a larger exposure to the US beer market. Whilst we would not see this being achieved through an involvement in mainstream beer, NAB has attractions both in the import portfolio (Labattt) as well as the craft beer exposure."