Country Largest Earthquake

Asahi Is Said to Bid for New Zealand Beverage Producer Independent Liquor

Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., Japan ’s largest brewer by volume, is bidding for New Zealand beverage maker Independent Liquor, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Asahi submitted its bid on Aug. 4, one of the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private, said the following day. The bids, which are due this week, may be for a stake or the whole company, two other people familiar with the situation said Aug. 4.

A deal may value Independent Liquor, which is owned by Unitas Capital Pte. and Sydney-based Pacific Equity Partners, at about $1.2 billion, including debt, one person said Aug. 4. Independent Liquor distributes brands including Woodstock bourbon, Whyte & Mackay scotch, Carlsberg and Tuborg beers as well as pre-mixed drinks in New Zealand and Australia.

Japanese beverage makers including Asahi and Kirin Holdings Co., the country’s biggest by market value, are expanding abroad as a declining and aging population hurts domestic demand for beer and soft drinks. A strengthening yen, which hit a postwar record of 76.25 to the dollar in March, boosts Japanese companies’ buying power abroad.

“Especially after the big earthquake and tsunami, executives realize it is quite difficult to grow only in Japan,” said Tetsuro Ii, chief executive of Tokyo-based Commons Asset Management. “More and more Japanese companies accelerate mergers and acquisitions. The strong yen also pushes M&A.”

Asahi fell 0.4 percent 1,538 yen as of 12:57 p.m. in Tokyo trading. The stock has lost 2.2 percent this year, compared with the 13 percent slide in the broader Topix index.

The magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 caused Japan’s worst disaster since World War II. Japan plans to spend 19 trillion yen ($243 billion) over the next five years to rebuild, according to a draft government proposal .

Japan sold yen on Aug. 4 to weaken the currency, acting alone after an intervention in March that was coordinated among the Group of Seven nations. Japan’s currency may strengthen beyond 70 against the dollar, former Finance Ministry official Eisuke Sakakibara said on TV Asahi yesterday. The yen traded at 78.05 to the dollar as of 1:10 p.m. in Tokyo.

Pacific Equity and CCMP Capital Asia, as Unitas was then known, agreed to take control of Independent in 2006 when they acquired the company from the family of founder Michael Erceg.

HBCUs Rally to Help State University of Haiti Recover From Earthquake

A dozen historically Black colleges and universities have formed a consortium to help rebuild the earthquake-damaged State University of Haiti, the Caribbean country’s largest institution of higher education.

Led by Florida A&M University, the consortium hopes to raise $12 million to construct a classroom building equipped to receive telecourses taught by faculty from the Black colleges. The group also plans to raise money so the State University of Haiti can hire replacements for professors who died in the earthquake last year and to provide scholarships to 1,000 Haitian students to attend the public university, which has reopened despite extensive damage to its buildings in Port-au-Prince, the capital.

In the shorter term, the consortium intends to share faculty expertise to boost the university’s academic programs in agriculture and entrepreneurship and research into renewable energy and alternative medicine. Administrators from the HBCUs will help establish a campus office to generate donations from prosperous alumni.

“It was thought that Black colleges have the resources and talent and were advanced enough in their own right [so] they could offer assistance to higher education, particularly the State University of Haiti, to help them get back on their feet,” says Dr. Frederick Humphries, Florida A&M’s former president and the consortium’s coordinator.

While most of the dozen HBCUs participating are public universities, including South Carolina State and Morgan State, private institutions like Howard University and Miles College are also members. The consortium has been in the making for a year and has drafted a well-developed plan of action, after asking Rector Jean-Vernet Henry and other top administrators at the State University of Haiti to identify needs.

In a letter to Humphries last year, Henry gave “formal confirmation” of his university’s cooperation with the group. He cited seven priorities: rebuilding campuses, funding new professorships, providing student scholarships, developing student housing, boosting research into renewable energy and alternative medicine, upgrading technical capabilities and further developing research programs.

In October, Henry and vice rectors Fritz Deshommes and Wilson Laleau wrote another letter to Humphries endorsing the proposed e-campus.

“We are very pleased with the project, which will open up a wide range of opportunities to the University,” they said. “Further, we believe that the proposed e-campus will have a lasting impact on Haiti’s education system as a whole.

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