Bloomberg: Japan Tobacco Inc. agreed to buy a Bangladeshi cigarette maker for 124.3 billion taka ($1.5 billion), taking its acquisition strategy to one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.
The Japanese company is acquiring the tobacco business of Akij Group, the second-largest cigarette maker in Bangladesh with about 20 percent share of the market, Japan Tobacco said in a statement Monday. “With this investment, we continue to accelerate our expansion in emerging markets that matter,” Mutsuo Iwai, Japan Tobacco’s executive vice president, said in the statement. “Akij’s substantial market share places us straight at the No. 2 position in Bangladesh.” The maker of Mevius and Winston cigarettes has been buying up businesses in markets where smoking is more prevalent.