New premium brewery

plans for SAB and Coke

Pacific Beverages, SABMiller's joint venture with Coca-Cola, is planning to build a "state-of-the art" brewery in Australia to increase production of its premium brands.

The brewery in New South Wales will have a capacity of 500,000 h l and will be used by Pacific to brew more Bluetongue and Bondi Blonde beer and potentially develop more premium brands.

Ari Mervis, managing director of SABMiller Asia, said Pacific Beverages had "exceeded initial expectations" since it began trading in 2006 and a new brewing facility was needed to expand the business.

The joint-venture brewery, which is aiming to incorporate a number of environmental technologies, is expected to be completed by 2010.