Carlsberg is not going to resort to any knee-jerk action to expand in South-east Asia even as the regional food and beverage industry sees increased merger and acquisition activity.

But no option is out of consideration as the group positions itself to tap the enormous potential in South-east Asia's beer market, Carlsberg Singapore's General Manager Bart Lim told TODAY in an interview.

"Everyone is chasing the exciting growth in Asia and, for fast-moving consumer goods companies, increasingly scale will be an important asset to have in the business. Consolidation and scaling up will be something that businesses look forward to if it makes sense. But the key thing is there are many ways to grow," said Mr Lim.

"All options are on the table. Mergers and acquisitions are one part of it. Is Carlsberg leaning towards one particular option? It's premature to say for now, and we'll evaluate when an opportunity presents itself," he added.

Mr Lim's comments come shortly after competitor Heineken won control of Asia Pacific Breweries and its portfolio of brands, including Tiger Beer. Heineken went through a drawn-out battle with Thai Beverage for APB, forking out S$5.6 billion to gain full control of the brewer from its JV partner Fraser & Neave.

Carlsberg has since responded with its own moves, including a joint venture with Singha in Thailand in late September. The group has also raised its stakes in Chongqing Jianiang Brewery, a joint venture in China, and is now rumoured to be planning for an entry into Myanmar.

These developments reflect the brewing industry's stance on Asia, where beer consumption is set to grow by 4.8 per cent annually between 2011 and 2016, according to a Euromonitor forecast, while demand remains flat in developed markets such as the United States and Europe.

But against this backdrop, it will be business as usual for Mr Lim, who believes the key to Carlsberg's success in Singapore comes down to delivering high-quality brews that people like.

"Regardless of our way of growth, we always single-mindedly focus on making sure that our beers are superior products, that they're well marketed and are of fair value to our consumers, and that we grow together with all our partners and stakeholders along the supply chain," said Mr Lim.

"That is the fundamental truth of the whole thing, the meat of the business, and everything else is just the means to an end," he added.

Part of that focus is to make sure it maintains a comprehensive portfolio that caters to both the mass and premium market segments. To that end, Carlsberg - itself the second most popular beer in Singapore behind APB's Tiger - is broadening its product range with more foreign beers.

"In the mass market segment, we have brought in SKOL, a popular Brazilian beer. Over in our premium segment, we have the number one French beer Kronenbourg 1664, which is doing really well here; Corona, Mexico's No 1 beer, is also with us; and recently we've brought in Grimbergen, a Belgium expert craft beer," said Mr Lim.

While the mass market will continue to grow strongly as consumers go for value products amid economic uncertainties, international premium brands is a segment which is expanding at a slightly faster pace than the overall beer market in Singapore, he said. "With our range of imported premium brands, we are keeping pace with growth in this segment, and it's good to see that our total overall premium portfolio is getting double-digit growth this year."

This has, in turn, contributed to Carlsberg's ability to keep pace with the "single-digit" total beer market growth in Singapore this year, said Mr Lim, who is keen to introduce more foreign brands in Singapore to bolster Carlsberg's portfolio of beers.

"Singaporeans are well travelled these days and have tasted beer from all around the world. So, having more heritage beers from different nationalities here can be very interesting.

"Increasingly we see more and more of these nationality brands and, if we can bring those into Singapore, we will," he said. Wong Wei Han

TODAY