Thai Beverage (ThaiBev), best known for its Chang Beer and Mekhong whisky, will buy Est cola brand from Serm Suk, the Thailand-based soft drinks maker.
The acquisition will take place via ThaiBev鈥檚 subsidiary International Beverage Holdings and will cost THB1.56bn (US$48m).
ThaiBev already owns majority stakes in Thai bottler Serm Suk that it bought from PepsiCo for US$513 million (S$686 million).
Launched two years ago, Est cola already has a 12% share of Thailand鈥檚 CSD market.
ThaiBev is eyeing more mergers and acquisitions, especially with a strong focus on beverages related M&As. The company is looking for brands with strong distribution networks. ThaiBev has announced last year a six-year roadmap aimed at increasing revenue contribution from non-alcoholic beverages to over 50% by 2020.
ThaiBev already owns a number of beverages brands including Serm Suk, Thai Beverage, Fraser and Neave (F&N), F&N Holdings Berhad and F&N Dairies Thailand. In 2013, the company took over F&N while in 2008, it bought Oishi Group, Thai green tea and sushi maker, for US$214 million.
It鈥檚 estimated that together ThaiBev and F&N control about 14% of the beverages market share in South-east Asia by value, and 9% by volume.
ThaiBev鈥檚 revenue from non-alcoholic beverages was about 8.7 per cent of sales in the first quarter of 2015 while revenue from outside Thailand in the ThaiBev was approximately 4% of ThaiBev鈥檚 total turnover.
ThaiBev launched F&N鈥檚 100Plus brand in Thailand this February to target the country鈥檚 carbonated drinks market, which is otherwise dominated by ThaiNamthip, bottler of Coca-Cola, and Serm Suk.