Sabeco becomes Leicester City’s official sleeve sponsor

According to the latest announcement posted on Leicester City football club’s official website, ThaiBev’s subsidiary company, Sabeco, becomes Leicester City’s official sleeve sponsor, meaning its logo will adorn the famous shirts in every fixture throughout the 2018/19 season as the Foxes look to embark on another historic year.

Supporters that have already purchased a 2018/19 replica shirt can also have the sleeve badge added free of charge at the Foxes Fanstore at King Power Stadium.

According to Leicester City, Sabeco is the leading Vietnamese beer brand and produces 1.59 billion litres of output per year. The export beer’s branding will appear throughout King Power Stadium, across interview backdrops and digital advertising boards.

Leicester City made shocks after beating big clubs such as Manchester City, M.U and Chelsea to become the Premier League champions in the 2015/16 season.

ThaiBev’s signature premium beer, Chang, will become the Stadium Beer Partner at King Power Stadium, and will provide the matchday beer offering from refurbished branded kiosks.

Leicester City Vice Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “To work with ThaiBev’s globally-recognized brands has obvious commercial advantages, while many of their business and community values are consistent with those of Leicester City and King Power. Over the last eight years, we have built a series of important relationships in East Asia and this latest partnership only strengthens Leicester City’s already significant connection with the region.”

Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, President and CEO of ThaiBev said: “Our recent acquisition of Sabeco in Vietnam has also added Saigon Beer into our beer group. We have a long-standing relationship with the King Power Group in Thailand and we are pleased to see our partnership extended to the English Premier League. We would like to wish Leicester City continued success in the years to come.”

At the end of last year, Sabeco, the owner of Saigon Beer brand, was acquired by Thaibev Group in a famous M&A deal worth over $5 billion. This is the biggest divestment in State-owned enterprises ever in Vietnam.

After completing the acquisition of dominant stake in Sabeco, Thaibev committed to retaining the Saigon Beer brand and introducing Sabeco's products internationally. In this June, Thaibev nominated its three members to Sabeco's Board of Directors.

However, according to analysts, Sabeco's restructuring process will take time to be effective. This year, Thabev plans to reduce Sabeco’s profits.

According to Sabeco, the 2018 business plan with targets is lower than those last year due to the increase in input costs and excise taxes. Excise taxes have raised by 5 per cent from 60 per cent in 2017 to 65 per cent in 2018. Meanwhile, most of the main input materials such as barley, glass bottles and cans have significantly increased in prices.

In addition, the brewery industry is forecast to grow only to 5.5 per cent much lower than the original forecast of 8 per cent.