Heineken denies plant designs

Dutch group Heineken, one of the world’s leading beer companies, has no medium-term intention of building from scratch a plant in Romania, Jan van de Merbel, Heineken director for investor relation told Ziarul Financiar. The Dutch official’s statements come one day after the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperation (MIMMC) said a Dutch company (A.F. Korff) had requested information, on behalf of Heineken, about the possibility of building a beer plant in Romania. Heineken is the only large European beer group with no manufacturing operations in Romania, and its market entry has been repeatedly delayed because of the company’s failure to acquire several Romanian producers. Market sources had said that Heineken was not likely to build a beer plant in Romania, whereas the request for information might have been related to another potential project: acquisition of Austrian group Brau Union. ZF