This week SABMiller, Carlsberg and Heineken separately revealed new strategies meant to beef up their market shares.
Carlsberg's chairman Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen kicked off proceedings by revealing the company could potentially raise a $13.6bn war chest for major investments in the sector if needed. He was quoted in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
"A major deal is likely," he said. "Carlsberg has the strength to become bigger."
Carlsberg recently amended its statutes to give the group greater powers to raise investment equity for any future purchases.
The move has led to growing speculation that Carlsberg may attempt to acquire full control of its Baltic Beverages Holding subsidiary, which is part owned as a joint-venture with its rival, Scottish and Newcastle.
As part of their joint venture, either party can enact a "shoot-out" clause following a failed attempt for a purchase. Should a partner offer its 50 per cent share to the other at a set price and have it declined, it then has the right to buy out the other partner at the same price.
Baltic Beverages, which produces brands such as Russia's Baltika, last year increased beer volumes by three per cent and revenues by 17 per cent to €171m.
Across the Atlantic, SABMiller revealed it had secured the rights from Canadian group Molson Coors to brew the Fosters brand in the US. The ten-year agreement will result in production shifting to SAB's plants in Texas and Albany by November this year.
Scott Weiss, managing director for Foster's Americas, said the deal was an important step in the company's bid to become a market leader in the country.
SABMiller's move is being made in a generally stagnant US beer market, particularly for domestic brands, which are losing out to a consumer shift toward European beer brands. Consumers are also drinking more spirits and wines instead of beer.
SABMiller has been hit by the trend, with beer sales to US retailers falling by 3.6 per cent during the first half of 2006. Sales were affected by price cuts and the rising popularity of specialty and imported beers, the group said in a trading statement at the time.
Even Anheuser Busch, manufacturer of self-proclaimed "King of Beers" Budweiser, has found difficulties selling its flagship brand in the country.
To offset these difficulties, the company has actively sought alliances with a number of major foreign brands, including Grolsch, and Tiger. The company is also working with InBev to push brands like Stella Artois and Becks in the country.
Not to be outdone, Heineken, the world's fourth largest brewer, also made deal of its own this week, according to Reuters.
The company is believed to have an extended a commercial partnership with Latin America's largest brewer Femsa to tap Brazil's burgeoning market for premium beers until 2017.
Heineken was unavailable for comment on the report.
Earlier this month, the group also extended its presence within the lucrative Central and Eastern European beer market, through the purchase of the Kruovice Brewery in the Czech Republic.
Of Heineken's five regional operations, Central and Eastern Europe boasted the highest consolidated beer volumes of 46.9m hectolitres. This compared favourably to Western Europe, its second largest market, which boasted volumes of 32.1m hectolitres.
