Heineken NV has put a bid of $4.06bn to buy Fraser & Neave’s (F&N) entire stake in OCBC and partners owned Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) at a rate of SGD$50 ($39.8) per share, which is SGD$5 ($3.98) more than the offer made by Thai Beverage for 8.6%.

The company has also offered SGD$163m ($129.92m) for F&N’s interest in the non-APB assets held by Asia Pacific Investment, a 50/50 joint venture between Heineken and F&N.

The bid comes on the backdrop of recent bid by Thai Beverage to buy a combined 22% stake in F&N for SGD$2.78bn ($2.21bn) from Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) and its insurance arm Great Eastern.

F&N has 39.7% stake in APB, while Heineken has 41.9% stake.

Japan-based Kirin Holding also has 15% shares in F&N, which was acquired from Singapore state investment firm Temasek Holdings in 2010.

According to Heineken, the offer price represents a premium of 45% over the one-month volume weighted average price per APB share.

The acquisition will help Heineken generate long-term financial and strategic value for its shareholders and will have direct access to number of markets including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Heineken chairman and CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said the company has over 80 years of partnership with F&N, but due to changes in F&N and APB shareholdlings, the fabric of the partnership has changed.

"As a result, it is time for us to look ahead to the next chapter of our Asian business, in which Singapore will continue to be our regional headquarters and both the Heineken and Tiger brand will spearhead our brand portfolio in Asia," Boxmeer added.