UB to develop Heineken brand locally

**Kolkata:**UB Group today said it would makesubstantial investments to develop Dutch beer brand Heinekenin the country.

Launching the Heineken mild beer here today, Sanjay Roy,GM (marketing) of United Breweries Ltd, said the company woulddevelop the brand Heineken to capture five percent of thebeer market within 18 to 24 months.

[caption id=“attachment_160341” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“UB woulddevelop the brand Heineken to capture five percent of thebeer market within 18 to 24 months.Reuters”] [/caption]

He said Heineken had a 37.5 percent stake in UB afterthe former bought out Scottish and New Castle. Heineken waspreviously launched in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Goa, New Delhiand Haryana.

He said the company was targeting to sell five lakh casesof Heineken next year.

The beer market in the country is growing at a compoundedannual growth rate of 10 percent in the last fiveyears, Roy said.

The mild beer segment has 25 percent share in the beersegment, while the rest belonged to strong beer.UB is brewing Heineken beer at its Taloja facility

near Mumbai.“We have enough capacity to cope with the demandgrowth,” Roy said.

PTI