By Andy Young
A number of executive changes will be taking place at Carlton and United Breweries, should AB InBev’s proposed takeover of SABMiller be confirmed later this month.
In a letter to the brewer’s partners, Chief Operating Officer Mike Walsh outlined key changes to CUB’s organisational design and personnel as a result of the SABMiller acquisition. Shareholders are voting on the proposal later this month and if it goes ahead as expected the acquisition officially happen on 8 October.
CUB’s current CEO Ari Mervis has already been confirmed as leaving the business in October and Walsh also confirmed in his letter that he will be leaving the business and that current Sales Director Peter Filipovic, will be taking over as the Australia Business Unit President.
Walsh said: “AB InBev has announced its new organisational design for the Asia Pacific South Zone. Under this new structure my previous responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer are going to be split into separate functional roles for the Zone. As a consequence, I will be leaving the business soon after change of control, subject to orderly hand-over requirements. I would like to thank you for your support over the past five years that I have spent with CUB.
“As part of the new management team, Peter Filipovic has been appointed Australia Business Unit President, and Richard Oppy as Vice President Marketing Australia.
“On the supply side, Ken Hitchcock has been appointed Vice President of Supply, and Anton van Heerden as Vice President of Logistics & Operational Integration for the zone.”
Last month AB InBev announced that Jan Craps, currently the Business Unit President of Labatt in Canada will take over as the Zone President for Asia Pacific South, which includes Australia, New Zealand, India, Vietnam and other South and Southeast Asian countries.