No stock in beer

last updated 8 January 2015

Bangkok

Thailand’s leading brewery was forced to cancel its initial public offering last week after thousands of Buddhist monks protested outside the stock exchange building. Some of the monks carried banners saying, “Alcohol, Go to Hell!” Thai Beverages, maker of the popular Chang beer, planned to use the money it expected to raise in the stock offering to expand to other countries. But stock exchange officials said that in light of the monks’ concerns, they were reconsidering whether to list the company at all. Thailand ranks fifth among the world’s heaviest-drinking countries.