Tokyo, March 8 - Kirin Brewery Co., Japan's second-biggest brewer, does not have immediate plans to rescue smaller rival Sapporo Holdings which is facing a takeover attempt by U.S. fund Steel Partners, its president said on Thursday.
Kirin President Kazuyasu Kato also said the brewer, which will shift to a holding company structure in July, does not intend to change its 46 percent stake in Lion Nathan, its growth-driving subsidiary in Australia.
He has said before that Kirin wanted to raise its stake in Lion Nathan.
Steel Partners sent a chill through the industry last month by saying it may launch a tender offer to raise its stake in Sapporo to two-thirds from about 19 percent, triggering feverish media reports that Kirin or industry leader Asahi Breweries may come forward with a "white knight" counter bid.
Kato, however, played down Kirin's part in the battle.
"As a company, of course we are collecting information on what's happening ... we don't have to block out news that comes in," Kato told Reuters in an interview.
Asked if the company has plans to approach Sapporo, he said: "Not at the moment.... There are only five beer makers in Japan, and we are all good rivals, making efforts to improve ourselves independently."
"We are not in a position to suggest a move from our side."
Analysts are also sceptical Asahi or Kirin would actively seek alliances with Sapporo because such unions would not likely bring about much benefit due to product overlapping and few expected synergies.
Sapporo's expensive price, reflecting investors' hopes for a white knight bid as well as the company's large real estate assets, is also holding back any moves, they say.
At Thursday's closing price of 848 yen, Sapporo was traded at 97 times its forecast earnings compared with Kirin's 30 and Asahi's 19.
Kirin narrowly lost to Asahi in 2006 the position of Japan's biggest beer maker in terms of shipment, but Kato said the company would not seek acquisitions just to boost its market share, which stood at 37.6 percent.
Asahi took a 37.8 percent share and Sapporo had 12.9 percent.
The company has earmarked 300 billion yen ($2.58 billion) for strategic investments from 2007 to 2009, and Kato said it would mostly use it to strengthen its non-core businesses such as soft drinks and pharmaceuticals as well as its businesses in Asia-Oceania.
He said Kirin did not plan to use part of the fund to increase its holdings in Lion Nathan, which generated a quarter of the company's group operating profit in 2006.
Kirin aims to nearly double sales from overseas businesses to 30 percent of consolidated revenue by 2015. It also owns 20 percent of Philippines' San Miguel Corp.
Shares in Kirin closed up 1.1 percent at 1,730 yen, underperforming a 1.94 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei average.