By Andy Young
Jan Craps the new CEO of Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) and AB InBev’s (ABI) Zone President Asia Pacific South has said he is looking forward to accelerating growth in the Australian market.
Speaking after ABI officially took over CUB following its buyout of SABMiller, Craps said that the CUB will keep its name and highlighted that the brewer is now Australia’s number one.
“Our shared heritage, passion for brewing and commitment to quality will allow us to achieve more together than we could apart,” Craps said.
“We will benefit from the skills, enthusiasm, commitment, energy and drive of our combined talent base.
“With CUB becoming part of the AB InBev family we now have access to an unrivalled international beer portfolio. In Australia, the addition of the international AB InBev brands, and Corona in particular, will move us immediately to the position of number one player in the market – a position that will help us to accelerate our and the industry’s growth.”
As the Asia Pacific South Zone President and CEO of CUB, Craps said that he will be based in Melbourne, which will become the headquarters for ABI’s Asia Pacific South zone.
“Melbourne is also now uniquely placed as the headquarters for our Asia Pacific South zone, meaning that this will be the location of the zone leadership team, and the heart of decision-making for the zone, he said.
“Our zone leadership team is made up almost equally of AB InBev and SABMiller colleagues; this diversity of background, nationality and experience from many different regions will deliver a truly ‘best of both’ approach and allow us to capitalise on the best practice implementation in our zone.
“In Australia our business will continue to be called Carlton & United Breweries and the name of our global company remains AB InBev. The decision to retain original company names in the business units speaks to our belief that the equity of the organisation is held in local corporate identities and the people in our local markets.
“I’d say to our customers and partners that while to a certain extent on day one things are business as usual, we look forward to using the resources and brands of the combined organisations to accelerate growth in the Australian market.”
The new leadership team at CUB sees Sales Director Peter Filipovic appointed as the Australia Business Unit President and Richard Oppy as Vice President Marketing Australia.
Filipovic now reports into Craps and is responsible for the commercial operations and P&L of the Australian business unit.