Global brewer SABMiller (SAB.L) is expanding further in the world’s biggest beer market with its Chinese joint venture agreeing to pay around $42 million on Thursday for an investment in a brewer in the southern Chinese province of Guizhou.

SABMiller’s Chinese joint venture, CR Snow, is making the investment for a 70 percent stake in a new joint venture which will own Guizhou Moutai Beer. CR Snow is buying the stake from China Kweichow Moutai Distillery Co, which will own 30 percent of the new joint venture.

CR Snow already has around a 50 percent market share in Guizhou province, and overall beer volumes in the province rose 10 percent to 3.9 million hectoliters in 2010.

CR Snow in 49 percent owned by SABMiller and 51 percent by China Resources Enterprise Ltd (0291.HK).