Foster's Group

Foster's Group Limited

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Beverages
Founded	1888
Headquarters	Southbank, Melbourne, Australia
Key people	Ari Mervis, Chief Executive Officer
Products	Victoria Bitter Foster's Lager
Revenue	A$2.27 billion (2011)
Number of employees	2,239 (2011)
Parent	Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV
Website	www.fosters.com.au

Foster's Group (now Foster's Group Pty. Ltd.) was an Australian beer group with interests in brewing and soft drinks. Foster's Group Limited was based in Melbourne, Victoria and was renamed Carlton & United Breweries prior to sale to British-South African multinational SABMiller in 2011. Foster's Group was the brewer of the Foster's Lager. Foster's wine business was split into a separate company, Treasury Wine Estates, in May 2011.

Since 10 October 2016 when Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired the entire SABMiller company, the latter - including its subsidiaries such as Foster's - has been a business division of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV. SABMiller ceased to exist as a corporation. SABMiller also ceased trading on global stock markets. As a result, Foster's Group is now a direct subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV.

It was founded in Melbourne in 1888 by two American brothers William and Ralph Foster of New York, who happened to own a refrigeration plant. Cooling was necessary to brew and store acceptable lagers in Australia's hot climate, unlike the English-style dark ales commonly brewed at the time. They sold the brewery the following year and returned to the United States.

In 1983 Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate, purchased Carlton and United Breweries, and renamed it Elders Brewing Group. Then in 1990, the Elders Brewing Group changed its name to the Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.

In 2005, Foster's Group acquired the Australian wine-making group Southcorp. This acquisition added famous brands such as Penfolds, Lindemans and Rosemount to the Foster's stable and around A$1 billion to revenues.