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Tsingtao Discount Shows Firm Competition in China Beer Scene

  • Asahi to sell stake in Tsingtao to Chinese conglomerate Fosun
  • Tsingtao will continue to lose market share: Goldman’s Kong
Bottles of beer are for sale at the Tsingtao Brewery Co. museum in Qingdao, China, on Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. Tsingtao Brewery Co. is a Chinese beer company founded by German settlers more than a century ago.Photographer: Doug Kanter
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Tsingtao Brewery Co.’s shares headed for their biggest decline in almost two years after Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. agreed to sell its stake in the Chinese beermaker at a 32 percent discount.

Japan-based Asahi will sell its 20 percent holding to Fosun International Ltd. and Tsingtao for HK$27.22 a share, compared with Wednesday’s closing price of HK$40 per share. Tsingtao stock dropped as much as 7 percent to as low as HK$37.20 Thursday, still well above the sale price. Fosun shares rallied 8.7 percent, the most since Oct. 25.