By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis – St. Louis-Based Anheuser-Busch announced Wednesday its purchase of a major stake in a Chinese brewer.
A-B paid $139 million for a 29 percent share of the Harbin Brewery Group.
St. Louis business analyst Juli Niemann says the move could be a good one for Anheuser-Busch.
"Beer is very popular in China," Niemann said. "They like it the same way we do, cold and semi-weak. So it's a very popular brew. There's a lot of regional loyalty to their particular brands, and Harbin has its own good segment there."
Niemann says A-B is in a strong position to take over Harbin if it wanted to.
Rival brewer Miller has a similar stake in Harbin, but was rebuffed in it's offer to buy the entire company.