Italy’s Peroni beer has changed hands again. It its journey from an Italian family-owned firm just a few years ago, it has now been sold by its Belgian-American owners to a Japanese company.
The sale was a condition of SABMiller’s being allowed to merge with U.S.-Dutch beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. Peroni will now be part of Japan’s Asahi Group, and the sale closed this week.
SAB and AB/InBev is now the world’s largest brewer with 29% of the world’s market, and almost complete dominance in many countries, including the U.S.
Peroni will continue to be made in Italy…at least for now.