According to the Financial Times (UK), Carisberg's announcement in February that it was offering to buy the minority stake in Russian brewer Baltika that it did not already own was the 14th and final bullet point in the Danish brewer's press release on its 2011 results. For some, this raised the question of whether it had something to hide. For others, it merely highlighted the existing reality - that Carlsberg was already in control. The process is now ending. Carlsberg is squeezing out Baltika's remaining minority shareholders, lifting its stake after this month from 85 per cent to 97 per cent. So why does it want to increase exposure to Russia despite the regulatory problems of the past three years? Is it a question of doubling down on its bet, given that it has already invested $12bn? "You might say they are so big in Russia that it's in for a penny, in for a pound. But you could also say it shows they are pretty confident in Russia," says Ian Shackleton, analyst at Nomura, who puts himself in the latter camp.
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