Sabeco controls 46 per cent of the beer market in Viet Nam.— Photo baomoi.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (ThaiBev) plans to buy a stake in Viet Nam's largest brewery Sai Gon Beer (Sabeco), reported Wall Street Journal's website online.wsj.com.

The website saw the move by ThaiBev, owned by Thailand's third-richest man, as an indication that foreign interest remains strong in the frontier market in Viet Nam, adding that the value of the deal will be US$2 billion.

Sabeco has not yet commented on the report. However, the HCM City Securities Corporation said earlier that under the restructuring plan, the ministry of trade and industry, which owns 89 per cent in Sabeco, plans to sell about 49 per cent of its stake in order to restructure the brewery.

Sabeco controls 46 per cent of the local beer market with its two famous brands, namely 333 and Saigon Beers.

Euromonitor, a leading global firm that does strategic research for consumer markets, said that beer sales in Viet Nam grew 11 per cent in 2013, and are expected to grow 9.6% this year. Meanwhile, local media reported that beer consumption in Viet Nam reached nearly 3 billion litres in the first 10 months of 2014. Sabeco provided 1.09 billion litres of beer, an increase of 2.8 per cent compared to the same period last year.

According to Sabeco's latest financial report, its revenue for the first six months of the year reached VND14.3 trillion ($680 million), an increase of 12.5 per cent over the same period last year.

ThaiBev, known for its two brands of Chang Beer and Oishi green tea in Thailand, is owned by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi who, according to Forbes, has a net worth of $11.3 billion as of the end of June.

Before ThaiBev, giant brewers such as Heineken, AB InBev and SAB Miller, as well as Asahi also wanted to invest in Sabeco.— Wall Street Journal/VNS