Myanmar: Fraser & Neave gains government approval to return to Myanmar’s beer market

Singapore’s Fraser & Neave has gained approval from Myanmar’s investment commission to return to the country’s beer market, where it would compete against its former partner, military-owned Union of Myanma Economic Holdings Limited, the Frontier Myanmar reported on March 22.

Emerald Brewery, a joint venture between F&N and an affiliate of Myanmar’s Shwe Than Lwin, received Myanmar Investment Commission approval on March 20 to manufacture and distribute beer.

Last December, the Singaporean conglomerate announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, F&N Investments, planned to “explore beer production in Myanmar” in partnership with Than Lwin Aye Yar Industrial Production & Construction Company.

Emerald Brewery Myanmar Ltd., was registered last December and is 49% owned by F&N Investments and 51% owned by Than Lwin Aye Yar.

It has been less than three years since F&N sold its 55 percent stake in Myanmar Brewery — Myanmar’s largest brewer — to Japan’s Kirin Holdings for US$560 million.

The August 2015 sale marked the end of a two-year legal battle in Singapore between F&N and its local partner, UMEHL, one of Myanmar’s two military-run conglomerates.

If its plans to build a brewery come to fruition, F&N would also compete in Myanmar against Dutch brewer Heineken and Denmark’s Carlsberg.

F&N did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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