Hungary: Borsodi Brewery to buy back malt-house from Albadomu Malt
Borsodi Brewery Zrt, 60% owned by InBev, is going to buy back a malt-house in Bõcs (northeastern Hungary) from Albadomu Malt Bt, communication director of Borsodi, Imre Fehér said, according to Hungarian news agency BBJ.
The malt-house was sold by Borsodi two years ago because of a portfolio adjustment. Now Albadomu has gone bankrupt and stopped production, forcing the brewery to import the raw material from Austria and the Czech Republic. The original sale contract contained a buy-back option for such cases.
The company sold 2.2 million hectoliters of beer in Hungary last year making it the market leader. Borsodi Brewery Inc. has been operating since 1973, and in the last quarter of a century it has grown to become the second largest brewery in the country – this growth is far from over. Their basic, and main activity is the production of beer, but apart from this they also have a large malt producing capacity, which is important for other companies as well.
The company was one of the first breweries to be privatised (in 1991), and it became a member of Interbrew, the fifth largest brewery group in the world. Among the changes in the company, probably the most considerable were the investments of the owners to make production more profitable, and to improve quality. The most popular product of the company, Borsodi Sör, is the biggest beer name in Hungary. Other popular names include Borsodi Barna, Borsodi Póló, Borsodi Kinizsi and Rákóczi, as well as the ever widening licensed product range of the company, which includes Spaten, Holsten, the American Rolling Rock and the Belgian Stella Artois. In July 1997 Borsodi Brewery Inc. was the first brewery to receive an ISO 9001 standard certificate. Their distribution network covers the whole country, and they would also like to extend their exports. They mainly export to Central and Eastern European countries, but also to countries like Uruguay.
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