Carlsberg to sell majority of its former Copenhagen brewery site for $441 mn

Danish brewer Carlsberg will sell 75 per cent of its historic former Copenhagen brewery site in Valby, Copenhagen to a group of investors for 2.5 billion Danish crowns ($441 million), in order to reduce debt.

"We're doing this to monetise redundant assets," Peter Kondrup, head of Carlsberg investor relations told Dow Jones Newswires. "This is part of Carlsberg's strategy to get value out of land we don't use anymore."

Carlsberg, the world's fourth largest brewer, will retain a 25 per cent stake in the site, and will book a pretax capital gain of about 1.7 billion Danish crowns in the second quarter.

Built in 1847, the Valby brewery covers an area of 250,000 sqm, It was closed in 2008 and the company laid out plans in 2009 to sell the land and in the interim period started to lease the space to art galleries, restaurants and retailers.

Carlsberg and the Danish investors comprising of Realdania, PFA, Pensam and Topdanmark, will develop the former brewery site to create a new city district called ''Carlsberg City''

Commenting on the development, Jørn Jensen, Carlsberg group deputy CEO and CFO, said, "We are pleased that it has been possible to establish this strong consortium of investors who will be responsible for transforming the area into an exciting neighbourhood in Copenhagen.''

''We are also satisfied that the Carlsberg Group is already now realising significant value from this transaction which will be used to further deleverage the Group. At the same time we continue to participate as a minority shareholder in the consortium which we expect will generate significant value in the years to come," he added.