Efes Breweries International (EBI) acquired the 8.76% stake in its Moscow Efes Brewery (MEB) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

MEB is one of the two companies conducting EBI's Russian operations, in addition to the newly acquired SABMiller Plc. (SABMiller) operations in the country after the strategic alliance between SABMiller and Anadolu Efes in March 2012. While the legal partnership of these two companies is planned to be completed in the first quarter of 2013, EBRD has now exercised the put option right to sell its minority stake in the former EBI operations in Russia conducted by MEB. Following the share purchase and sale agreements between EBI and EBRD, EBRD transferred its 8.76% stake in MEB to EBI, while the value of the shares were converted into a seven-year loan at the EBI level with a nominal value of USD 43 million, with interest rates of Libor+2.5% for the first twp years and Libor+2.0% for the remaining five years. Following the completion of the transaction last Friday, EBI now has a 99.7% stake in MEB.

Source: bne