Carlsberg to buy remaining 15 per cent of Baltika Breweries for $1.2 bn

Danish brewer Carlsberg plans to buy up the remaining 15 per cent of its Russian division Baltika Breweries, the second-largest brewery in Europe after Heineken Brewery, for around 6.5 billion Danish crowns ($1.2 billion).

Carlsberg will make a voluntary cash offer not exceeding 1,550 ($51) roubles per share for the remaining shares in Baltika Breweries and delist the company from the MICEX stock exchange.

"The Carlsberg Group will take the necessary steps to arrange for a delisting of Baltika as soon as possible," the Copenhagen-based company said in a statement.

"We currently expect this to happen not later than May 2012."

The news sent the shares of Russia's largest beer producer soaring 9 per cent to 1,340 roubles per share in today afternoon trade.

Baltika, which has become the official beer supplier to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, has dominated the Russian beer market since 1996, and currently holds a 37.4-per cent market share. It has ten breweries across Russia and one in Azerbaijan, and has market presence in 70 countries.