A taste for wine and cocktails is blowing the froth off beer sales

Heineken, the world's fourth-largest brewer, will finance the deal with cash from available resources.

The acquisition will give earnings a boost this year and increase Heineken's share of the Russian market to 8.3%.

Faced with declining demand for beer in Western Europe, Heineken and rivals are looking to faster-growing markets such as Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Pint pulling power

Rapid economic growth and an improving standard of living in these countries are giving consumers a thirst for big-brand beers.

Russia's beer consumption has doubled in the past five years as many drinkers turn from hard spirits such as vodka to softer brews such as lager, stout, bitter and wine.

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Patra is based in Yekaterinburg, Russia's third-biggest city which accounts for 17% of the country's beer market.

Heineken forecasts that the Russian beer market will grow by 5.5% to more than 89 million hectolitres in 2005.

Analysts and newspaper reports have estimated Patra's value at close to $50m (�26m).

"The acquisition of the Patra brewery fits perfectly in Heineken's strategy of selectively acquiring value-creating assets in growth markets," the company said in a statement.

Patra owns local beer brands Patra, Strelets and Zhigulevskoye, as well as a number of soft drinks.

The brewery has a sales capacity of one million hectolitres and Heineken said that it can be boosted to three million.

Foreign taste

TOP BREWERS BY SALES Anheuser-Busch Inbev SABMiller Heineken Carlsberg

Heineken, which agreed earlier this year to start brewing Guinness in St. Petersburg, is not alone in looking to emerging markets for future growth.

World number two Inbev controls Russian beermaker Sun Interbrew, and has bought top Brazilian firm AmBev.

UK brewer Scottish & Newcastle has a stake in India's United Breweries, the maker of the Kingfisher lager brand.

Heineken is hoping that emerging markets will help prop up earnings after the company reported a 33% slide in profits last year and warned that they may also decline in 2005.