Carlsberg merges with Greek brewer

Denmark’s Carlsberg is to merge with Greece’s third-largest brewer to become a “strong number two player” in the country’s beer market, second only to Dutch rival Heineken.

Carlsberg CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen

The Carlsberg Group announced its planned merger with Olympic Brewery today which will increase its share of the Greek beer market to 29% and making it the second biggest player in the Greek beer market.

The move will see Olympic Brewery’s strongest local brand is Fix combine with the Carlsberg Group’s biggest local brand Mythos which it said would generate “synergies within areas such as procurement, production and distribution” that would make the company a “very attractive partner for Greek retailers and wholesalers.”

CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen said: “The Greek market offers interesting opportunities. We have been very pleased with the performance of Mythos Brewery since we took over the business as part of the Scottish & Newcastle acquisition. The merger with Olympic Brewery and the creation of a strong number two player in the Greek market represents a step-change for our local business and we are very excited about the prospects for the merged company.”

Carlsberg will own 51% of the combined company with the current shareholders of Olympic Brewery will own the remaining 49%.

Financial details of the merger were not disclosed.

The chairman of the New Olympic Brewery will be Lars Lehmann from the Carlsberg Group and CEO will be Alexandros Karafillides, also from the Carlsberg Group.

The merger is subject to approval by the Hellenic Competition Commission.