Page 4 - Kirin Holdings Case Study
P. 4
By 1994 global demand for Japanese beer had peaked and
by the late 1990s and early 2000s Japan's beer market
began to shrink. The Kirin Group turned its attention abroad
as it began a policy of aggressive global mergers &
acquisitions. In 2011 it entered Brazil, the world’s third
biggest beer market, when it purchased a majority stake in a
Brazilian brewing company for approximately 300 billion
yen.
However, the investment failed to produce the expected
returns with the result that it dragged down Kirin’s entire
business.
“After we made the investment Brazil’s economy ran into
trouble, so did its politics. Brazilian society became less
stable and the future we had imagined in our minds
disappeared. Also, it takes thirty hours to get from here to
Brazil so I wondered could we really establish good
corporate governance, could we really be hands-on. Those
doubts lingered in my mind”. Yoshinori Isozaki, CEO & President, Kirin
Holdings (2)
The 1980s had also witnessed the Kirin Group expand into
the life sciences industry and establish a full-fledged
pharmaceuticals business.
By 2019 Kirin Holdings comprised three groupings with 190
subsidiaries:
