Heineken to invest $244 million in Brazil by 2020 to double capacity: paper

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Heineken <HEIN.AS>, the world's second-largest brewer, will invest 985 million reais ($244 million) in Brazil to double its production capacity, CEO Mauricio Giamellaro told the Valor Econômico newspaper in an interview published on Friday.

The investment, which started in January and is expected to be concluded by June 2020, is the largest by the Dutch brewer in Brazil since it acquired the local operations of Japan's Kirin <2503.T> in 2017 for 2.2 billion reais, the newspaper said.

The maker of Heineken, Amstel and Eisenbahn has set a goal of double-digit growth in the mainstream and premium segments in Brazil, Giamellaro told Valor, adding a fall in sales volumes seen in the third quarter is unlikely to persist.

He said he expects the Brazilian beer market to sustain growth of 3% per annum over the next three years, the newspaper reported.

(Reporting by Gabriela Mello; editing by Jason Neely)