LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 The Belgian brewing giant Interbrew, which owns the Stella Artois brand, is planning a stock market flotation, which could raise £1.9bn and value the company at up to £9.5bn.
Interbrew, the second-largest brewery firm in the world, is still family-owned but said it would sell 21% of its shares on the Brussels-based Euronext exchange. The float would be the country鈥檚 largest flotation to date.
The company, which recently bought the Bass and Whitbread brewing operations in the UK for £2.7bn, said it would use the cash raised to buy other breweries.
Chairman Paul de Keersmakaeker said, 鈥淓xpansion on an international scale is vital for our company and we intend to take advantage of every opportunity we have.鈥
Interbrew controls 180 brands in 110 countries, but its acquisition of Bass and Whitbread has come under scrutiny from the UK Competition Commission.