Japan's Kirin to sell shares in Chinese water business for $994 million

FILE PHOTO: The Kirin logo is displayed at Kirin Brewery Co. Yokohama Factory in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan June 11, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings Co Ltd said on Wednesday it is selling shares in its Chinese water business to Plateau Consumer Ltd for 115 billion yen ($994.21 million).

Kirin said it expects to post 39 billion yen profit from the share sale, but is still studying any impact on earnings for the year ending December.

The announcement comes two days after the company separately said it would withdraw from its business in Myanmar and terminate its joint venture with a military-linked partner.

Kirin set up the joint venture, known for its C'estbon brand of bottled water, in China in 2011.

In its full-year results on Monday, Kirin said it planned to streamline its balance sheet and sell cross-shareholdings as part of a strategy to increase profits over the next three years.

Kirin's shares rose as much as 2.9% in early Tokyo trading.

($1 = 115.6700 yen)

(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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