Kirin wins Brazil beer court case

Japanese beermaker Kirin says it has been cleared by a court to buy a majority stake in family-run Brazilian brewer Schincariol.Kirin will spend $2.6bn (£1.7bn) on buying 50.45% of the beer and soft-drink maker, after an injunction halting the deal was overturned.Minority shareholders had said they should have been offered the stake."Our way is clear for the PMI [post-merger integration]," a Kirin spokeswoman said.Minority shareholders had claimed the 50.45% stake sale violated their right to be given first offer on the shares that Kirin is buying from brothers Alexandre and Adriano Schincariol.Schincariol is Brazil's second-largest beer producer and also makes soft drinks such as Nova Schin and Devassa Bem Loura.It reported sales of about $1.8bn in 2010.Kirin is looking for growth overseas as Japan's beer market shrinks, forcing the nation's brewers to look abroad - with a strong yen helping fund acquisitions.Kirin also owns Australia's Lion Nathan and has a 48% stake in San Miguel Brewery of the Philippines.Brazil's beer market is dominated by AmBev, the conglomerate formed when Belgium's Interbrew merged with Anheuser-Busch to become the world's biggest brewer.