Nomura Holdings Inc. and U.S. investment fund The Carlyle Group will jointly acquire a majority stake in Japan's fifth-largest beer producer, the Okinawa-based Orion Breweries Ltd., sources said Friday.
The acquisition, believed to be aimed at expanding sales channels, would cost billions of yen, the sources said. The beer company's current top shareholder, Asahi Breweries Ltd., which had a 10 percent stake as of late September last year, will continue to hold shares and cooperate on product development and sales, the sources said.
The offerings of Orion Breweries, founded in 1957, are known as a specialty of Okinawa Prefecture. The company posted ¥28.3 billion ($260 million) in group sales and ¥2.3 billion in net profit in the year through March last year.
Nomura has set up a ¥100 billion fund to support business succession and management of firms in rural areas. Orion Breweries will be the first company that Nomura has acquired with its own funds since it suspended such activities following the 2008 global financial crisis.