Japan's Kirin drops Myanmar Brewery as partner due to military ties

Japanese brewing giant Kirin is ending a six-year-old joint venture with Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited for its links with the country's military after the Myanmar army this week seized power in a coup.

Detained by the Myanmar army are top government officials, including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to Kirin, it is "deeply concerned by' the recent actions of Myanmar's military and had no choice but to terminate" the partnership.

In 2015, the year of Suu Kyi's landslide election victory, Kirin spent $560 million to buy a majority stake in Myanmar Brewery, the country's top beer company.

Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited was its local business partner and co-owner.

The company added that it invested in Myanmar in 2015, believing that it could contribute positively to its people and the economy as it entered an important period of democratization.

Kirin has been under pressure to drop its business ties in Myanmar even before this week's coup.
Amnesty International had raised concerns about whether donations made by Myanmar Brewery were used to benefit the country's military.

In 2019, a UN fact-finding mission claimed that Myanmar's military had been using its business ties to support its "brutal operation against ethnic groups."

Kirin has since been investigating its operations in the country, and last November suspended dividend payments to the Myanmar holding company.