San Miguel Beer refers to San Miguel Pale Pilsen, a Filipino pale lager produced by San Miguel Brewery. Established in 1890 by the original San Miguel Brewery, it is the largest selling beer in the Philippines and Hong Kong. It is known in Chinese markets as 生力啤酒. San Miguel Beer was introduced in Spain by San Miguel Brewery in 1946. The Spanish rights were spun-off in 1953 by San Miguel Brewery and became an independent entity presently known as the Mahou-San Miguel Group.
As part of its overseas expansion, San Miguel moved into the Spanish market in 1953, setting up the company which would later become San Miguel Spain. Since 1946, there has been a company engaged in the production of malt for medicinal purposes known as La Segarra. In the early 1950s, its key shareholders Enrique Suárez Rezona, Ramón Vidal and Jaime Muñiz made contact with Andrés Soriano, then president of San Miguel Brewery, to allow them to produce beer under the San Miguel name in Spain. In 1953, San Miguel Brewery, Inc. signed the “Manila Agreement”, with the Philippine brewer setting up a new Spanish brewery, La Segarra, S.A. The company would later be renamed San Miguel Fabricas de Cerveza y Malta, S.A. in 1957, an affiliate of San Miguel Brewery, Inc. which initially held 20% equity share via its Hong Kong subsidiary. The company was acquired by Mahou, S.A. from Groupe Danone in 2000, combining to form Spain’s largest brewer, the Mahou-San Miguel Group. On 26 February 2014, San Miguel and Mahou-San Miguel signed a co-operation agreement to promote jointly San Miguel Beer and expand its global footprint.
History
The history of San Miguel traces back to 1890, when a group of Spaniards decided to open the first brewery in Southeast Asia, specifically in Manila. The factory produced diverse types of beers and derivative products under the name “San Miguel”. In the colonial capital no one knew beer until then. For this reason the inauguration of the brewery was a historic event and became known as “The day of San Miguel”.
Expansion to Spain
In February 1946 the corporation La Segarra S.A. was formed in Lleida, Catalonia, with the purpose of making beer, although the bureaucratic process caused production to be delayed until 1953. So, in 1954 the Group returned to Spain in a vessel stocked with Asian yeasts that made a 45-day journey across the ocean. In 1957 the Manila Agreement was signed with the president of San Miguel Brewery, Andrés Soriano Sr., and San Miguel, Beers and Malts Factory S.A. was established, independent from the Manila company. From that moment on, the two companies have followed different paths.
Expansion to Africa and Europe
In 1965 San Miguel arrived in Africa, and by 1967 it spread to other capitals in Europe like London, Paris and Berlin. In 1970 it bought the Spanish- Dutch beer brand GULDER and its factory in Burgos. The three factories had a capacity of 600,000 hl, achieving a share of 7% of the national market. Thanks to the progressive opening in Spain and the work of the exports department, the 70s were a time of growth in exports of the beer both in Western and Eastern Europe and Northern Africa, reaching an annual figure of 125,000 hl.
Mahou-San Miguel Group
The formation of the Mahou-San Miguel Group traces its origin to Danone stocks. In 1994 the French multinational acquired 18% of San Miguel, Beers and Malts Factory. In 1997 Danone grew its share to 82% and also owned a large part of Mahou. In the following years, Danone lost interest in the company and therefore the beer maker took advantage of the synergy with Mahou, merging the two and becoming Mahou-San Miguel. Later on it also absorbed the beer maker Alhambra of Granada.
The escudo
The San Miguel escudo used as the brand logo of all San Miguel branded beer products is based on the original Spanish-eracoat of arms of Manila. It is also the corporate logo of San Miguel Corporation and the San Miguel Brewery companies. The Mahou-San Miguel Group does not use this logo for its San Miguel branded beers. Instead, it uses an image of a galleon as its brand logo.
San Miguel Beermen
The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The franchise is owned by the San Miguel Corporation since 1975. It is one of three PBA ball clubs owned by the SMC group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. It is the only remaining original franchise in the PBA and leads the league with the most number of PBA titles - 23 to date. It is also the only team ever to have won at least one title in each of the five numerical decades of the PBA's existence so far.
