APBPPL to explore India for greenfield

By Ritwik Mukherjee

Asia Pacific Breweries-Pearl Private (APBPPL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries (APBL), is looking at both greenfield and brownfield expansions in India. "We are exploring all possibilities — ramping up capacities at the two existing breweries, acquiring existing units from others and contract manufacturing. This is because India is a growing market and one of our focus areas and we would like to be in the top three bracket at the earliest,” Chetan Gupta, APBL's marketing manager for India, told journalists on Saturday.

Gupta, who was here in connection with the formal launch of its flagship brand ‘Tiger Beer’ and another popular brand Cannon 10000 for West Bengal market, said that the company would shortly launch 2/3 new brands from the stable of APBL in the value segment and strong beer segments. “These new launches albeit in few particular pockets will happen within next two-three months. Eventually we would like to be present in all the segments in India,” Gupta said.

At present, APBL manages a portfolio of over 40 beer brands and brand variants with Tiger Beer and Heineken as its flagship brands. APBL operations is backed up by as many as 26 breweries across ten countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, India and Sri Lanka. In India, it operates through its two wholly owned subsidiaries-APBPPL and Asia Oacific Breweries Aurangabad Limited.

APBPPL is also looking at exporting its super strong beer-Cannon 10000 to Sri Lanka, which according to the company has a large market. The company is also well set to launch Cannon Soda in the Indian market any day now, Gupta said. In India, as much as 70 per cent of the beer market is for strong beer while the remaining 30 per cent is for mild beers, he added.

“With the success of our brands in various parts of the country and our goal of being a leading brewer in India, it is only natural to expand our footprint to various parts of the country. We have a quality portfolio with the world acclaimed Tiger Beer catering to the premium mild beer drinker, Cannon 10000 catering to the mainstream strong drinker and Baron’s Strong Brew, that plays in the premium category of strong beer redefining consumers expectations,” Gupta said.