A major shift in the Asia Pacific

The sale is a major shift for AB InBev's position in the Asia Pacific. Just last week the company pulled plans for an initial public offering of Budweiser Brewing Co. Asia Pacific on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The IPO would have been the biggest of the year, which aimed to raise as much as $US9.8 billion.

CUB would have been included in this IPO, as well as Sydney brewer 4Pines and Adelaide-based Pirate Life, which AB InBev bought over a four month period in late 2017.

The proceeds from IPO were intended to be used to pay down the company's $US100 billion plus in borrowings.

Indeed, AB InBev said it would primarily use the money from the CUB divestment to Asahi to pay down debt.

The company has a commitment to reach a net debt to EBITDA target ratio of below four times by 2020, however said this goal was not dependent on the completion of the CUB transaction.

Analysts said the sale of CUB to Asahi was advantageous for any future IPO plans for AB InBev.


"Selling down slower growth assets like Australia should make the APAC IPO much more interesting to investors given the reduced mix of slower growth, mature-market beer assets," wrote Nico von Stackelberg, an analyst at Liberum.

Asahi expands overseas

Asahi has rapidly expanded overseas in recent years, and its purchase of CUB fits in a broader strategy to build its global reach.

The bid for CUB is the latest in a buying spree for Asahi, which has seen 14 straight years of beer shipment declines. In January, Asahi announced it would pay $US330 million to buy the brewing business of Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc in the United Kingdom.

In 2016, it bought Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell lagers from Anheuser-Busch and SAB Miller in two separate deals worth around $US11 billion.

The deal will give Asahi a major boost in Australia which is already the company's second-largest overseas market behind Europe.

Its presence in Australia has been overshadowed by CUB and Kirin-owned Lion, which combined account for 90 per cent of the market, according to market research firm IBISWorld.

Consumer products analyst Duncan Fox said "selling Carlton & United Breweries to Asahi for about $US11.3 billion sheds a low-growth, high-margin asset, and allows for reinvestment into better growth markets."


Carlton United history

Headquartered in Melbourne and founded in 1903, CUB has been a staple of Australian beer for more than a century.

Elders IXL, which would go on become Foster's Group in 1990, originally acquired the business in 1983 before the SABMiller acquired Foster's in 2011.

The South African brewer took ownership of Carlton as part of the deal, but five short years later Anheuser-Bush InBev bought out SABMiller and took control.

Now, with AB InBev's sale to Asahi, the Japanese giant will count Carlton among its extensive stable of Australian brands.

Asahi bought Schweppes Australia in 2011 for $1.2 billion, which moved household staples like Solo, Cottee's Cordial, Cool Ridge under its umbrella.

With wires.