Suntory sees sales doubling to $40 billion by 2020 with Beam addition

Suntory Holdings Ltd will aim for group sales of 4 trillion yen ($39 billion) by 2020 – about double what it achieved last year – of which a quarter will come from Beam Suntory, President Nobutada Saji said.

Another 1 trillion yen will come from sales of beer, Saji told a news conference.

The privately held beverage company bought U.S. spirits company Beam Inc earlier this year for 1.6 trillion yen in Japan’s third-biggest outbound deal ever, investment of which Saji said Suntory will be able to recover in about 15 years.

Saji said reaching the 1 trillion yen sales goal for the combined Suntory-Beam unit will require more acquisitions.

Suntory will raise 300 billion yen in subordinated loans and 500 billion yen through long-term borrowing or bond issuance to finance the purchase of Beam, Saji said, confirming a Reuters report last week.

Wires