Ambev

Ambev was formed on 1 July 1999 by merging Companhia Antarctica Paulista of São Paulo and Companhia Cervejaria Brahma of Rio de Janeiro; its founders were the 3G Capital partners Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira. In 2004 it merged with Belgium’s Interbrew to form InBev, which bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008, and Ambev is now a subsidiary of AB InBev. Both founding brands date from 1888: Brahma, the most consumed beer brand in Brazil in 2024, and Antarctica, whose German brewer Louis Bücher ran what Portuguese Wikipedia calls the country’s first bottom-fermenting brewery. Skol, launched in 1967, is brewed under licence from Carlsberg. Ambev bought Wäls and Colorado in 2015, and owns Bohemia. Analysts gave it 59% of Brazilian beer volume in early 2025. Its Brazilian beer volume fell 4.5% in 2025 while its premium brands grew 17%.