Denver-based Molson Coors said it will purchase StarBev and its nine breweries in central and eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, as it expands its operations further.

The price of the deal is EUR 2.65 B (USD 3.54 B).

"The central and eastern European beer market is attractive, with strong historical trends and upside potential as the region returns to its pre-economic-crisis growth rates," President and CEO Peter Swinburn commented.

The deal comes less than three years after Anheuser-Busch InBev, later renamed StarBev, completed the sale of its operations in Central Europe and the Balkans to private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners.

The deal was valued at USD 2.23 B in cash, bonds and minority shares.

StarBev had sales of about billion last year, brewing more than 11 million barrels of beer.

The company, which brews Bergenbier, Ozusko and Borsodi beers, is owned by funds advised by CVC Capital Partners Ltd. and StarBev management.

A deal for StarBev would help Molson Coors put its brands, such as Carling, into the hands of beer drinkers in central and Eastern Europe.

Bulgaria is one of nine breweries in Central and Eastern Europe, where StarBev is divesting its operations.

StarBev has 4,100 workers and brewing operations in the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Montenegro.

StarBev, is also a distributor of brands such as Stella Artois, Beck's, Hoegaarden, Lowenbrau and Leffe, and sells in Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well.

Kamenitza AD, which was first privatized in 1995 by Belgium's Interbrew, later renamed to InBev after the merger of Interbrew and AmBev and then to StarBev, is the second biggest brewery in Bulgaria.

Its diverse brand portfolio includes international Stella Artois, Staropramen and Becks and local Kamenitza, Astika, Burgasko, Pleven, Slavena.