According to Bira’s CEO, Ankur Jain, and a spokesperson of Kirin Holdings, the Japan-based company is buying under 10% stake in Bira, an Indian craft beer brand by investing 30 million (nearly INR 220 crore). Bira is owned by B9 Beverages, a company based in New Delhi. No further details about the financials of this deal have been released to the press yet. However, Jain mentioned that he expects the deal to be closed over the next few days.

Ankur Jain added that this investment will enable Bira to break even in the 2022 fiscal year after having reported losses in the recent years as well as in the pandemic. Furthermore, it will facilitate the plans ofthe Indian craft beer brand to launch its product in Japan in the later part of 2021.

In August, Reuters had reported that Bira was in talks with international brewing companies to sell 20%stake. Valued at $210 million in 2018 by Data Provider Pitchbook, 30% of the company is owned by theCEO Ankur Jain and his family while Sequoia Capital, the U.S. based venture capital firm, owns around 45% stake.

The craft beer products offered by the company have gained popularity recently. According to Bira, the company has a 5-10% market share of the beer market in the metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai although it was launched in 2015.

On the other hand, due to falling sales in its home country, Kirin Holdings has been showing interest in investing in independent breweries. It owns a minor stake in New York-based Brooklyn brewery. But all international dealings have not gone well for Kirin. In the year 2015, its operations in Myanmar came under investigation as its local partner had military connections and in 2017, the company sold its loss-generating Brazilian unit to Heinken after losing market share.