Kirin Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd. are arranging to merge around April 2011 and are expected to make an official announcement of the basic agreement in January, sources said Thursday.

An asset management company, which owns about 90 percent of Suntory shares and is operated by Suntory's founding family members, is likely to be the top shareholder with more than 33 percent of shares in the new holding company the two firms plan to establish, the sources said.

In July, the two Japanese brewers said they entered talks for a merger, which would create one of the world's largest food and beverage makers, and are now close to ironing out the details on the integration ratio, believed to be the key to inking an accord.

They intend to maintain both of their Kirin and Suntory product brands and their top executives are likely to take either the position of chairman or president of the new holding company, the sources said.

The two firms have applied with the Fair Trade Commission for a preliminary investigation on whether their merger would face antitrust hurdles since they would dominate more than half of the share in the domestic beer market and more than 30 percent in the domestic soft drinks market, if they integrate.

Kirin and Suntory had originally intended to ink an agreement before the year's end.