The KK brewing company, owned by Slovak financier and former opposition HZDS party MP Karol Konárik, expects to have a foreign partner within the next few months.
KK officials said on September 30 that the Austrian BBAG brewery had won a tender to enter the company. KK director Karol Jaroš said that the Austrian partner would not buy the KK company but would instead become a shareholder, bringing a vital capital injection to the KK company's four Slovak breweries.
With a January-August output of 523,700 hectoliters, KK company placed second among Slovak breweries. The entry of the Austrian BBAG will continue a trend towards consolidation on the Slovak beer market, where the Dutch Heineken and South African Breweries (SAB) are already active. KK officials said at a September 30 press conference that small breweries face a grim future in Slovakia, and added they expected large beer companies eventually to control 80% of the market.
