Asahi to buy Malaysia's Permanis

Japan's Asahi Group Holdings said Thursday it had reached an agreement with Malaysia's CI Holdings to buy its Permanis unit in a deal worth roughly 21.6 billion yen ($274 million). Permanis, Malaysia's second-largest soft drink maker by sales volume, has exclusive rights to bottle, market and sell PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi, 7-Up, Gatorade and Tropicana in the country. Asahi said it aims to complete the deal 820 million Malaysian ringgit deal in November, subject to government and shareholder approval. The deal comes as Japanese companies try to take advantage of the relative strength of the yen as they search for overseas growth opportunities to offset a declining domestic market. In a statement, the Japanese drinks giant said it "aims to increase its sales to 2-2.5 trillion yen, increase its share of overseas sales to 20-30 percent and join the ranks of the top global food companies in scale". Asahi already has a foothold in the Australian soft drinks market through Schweppes Australia, acquired in 2009. Earlier this month, Asahi said it had entered into a binding share purchase agreement to acquire 100 percent of the issues shares of mineral water and juice maker P&N Beverages Australia, the third largest soft-drink company by volume in Australia. It also plans to acquire New Zealand soft drink maker Charlie's Group Limited through a takeover offer in a bid to strengthen its presence in the Oceania region.