Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. agreed to buy Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC's brewing business for $330 million, showing that despite business angst about Brexit, there's still international demand for the most British of products — ale and cider.
Fuller shares surged as much as 25 percent, the most ever, on a £250 million deal that includes its London Pride brand, soft-drink production assets and wine wholesaling. The British company will focus on its pub and hotel operations.
Asahi's push to expand in the U.K. runs counter to the trend among some other Japanese companies like Panasonic Corp. or Toyota Motor Corp., which have been shifting operations out of the U.K. or threatening to scale back if the country crashes out of the European Union without a deal.