Asahi Buying Japanese Milk Maker for $1.5 Billion

Yes that’s billion with a “b” as Asahi Group agreed to buy Calapis Milk beverage producer today to hedge a downturn in the Japanese beer market.  Details from the nytimes:

The Japanese beer maker Asahi Group agreed on Tuesday to acquire the milk beverage producer Calpis for 120 billion yen, or $1.5 billion, from the food and condiment group Ajinomoto.

The deal for Calpis is the latest in a string of domestic and foreign acquisitions by Asahi, which is seeking to expand into new segments and regions in an attempt to hedge against the downturn in the Japanese beer market.

Like other Japanese brewers, including Kirin, Orion, Sapporo and Suntory, Asahi is dealing with the challenges of an aging and shrinking population at home, which has led to declining beer sales in Japan. Domestic shipments of beer have fallen each year for at least the last six years, and declined 3.7 percent last year to about 442 million cases, according data from the Brewers Association of Japan.  Full details here.