Colombia's Postobon swaps soft drinks for beer

Postobon, the soft-drinks maker controlled by billionaire Carlos Ardila Lulle, will join Chile’s biggest brewer to start selling beer in Colombia, where SABMiller is currently the only major producer.

Postobon and Cervecerias Unidas (CCU) will contribute $400 million to a joint venture called Central Cervecera de Colombia, according to an e-mailed statement from the companies yesterday.

They plan to build a factory near Bogota with an initial capacity of 3 million hectoliters per year, according to the statement, equivalent to about 15 percent of the current beer market.

Source: Bloomberg