SABMiller plc is a global brewing and bottling company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's second-largest brewing company measured by revenues (after Anheuser-Busch InBev) and is also a major bottler of Coca-Cola.Its brands include Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell. It has operations in 75 countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America and sells around 21 billion litres of lager per year.
SABMiller has its primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately £35.6 billion as of 23 December 2011, making it the 11th-largest company on the London Stock Exchange.It has a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
History
The origins of the company date back to the foundation of South African Breweries in 1895 in South Africa. For many decades the operations of South African Breweries were mainly limited to southern Africa, where it had established a dominant position in the market, until 1990 when it began investing in Europe.
After listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1999to raise capital for acquisitions, the group purchased the Miller Brewing Company in North America from the Altria Group in 2002, and changed its name to SABMiller.
Following this, the group’s next major acquisition was of a major interest in Bavaria S. A., South America’s second largest brewer and owner of the Aguila and Club Colombia brands in 2005.
The company became engaged in the hostile takeover of Fosters in August 2011, and in September 2011 the board of Foster's agreed to a takeover bid valuing the company at Aus$9.9bn (US$10.2bn; £6.5bn).The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2011, but to exclude the Foster's lager brand in the UK and Europe, where it is owned by Heineken.
In November 2011, SABMiller launched Impala Cervejas in Africa, the first commercially produced cassava beer, although Africans have been making cassava home brews for generations. The taste is described as "somewhat bitter, somewhat tangy, not sweet".
Net income $ 2.557 billion (2011)
Total assets $ 39.108 billion (2011)