Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Bhd has appointed Lars Lehmann as managing director effective July 1 to replace Henrik Juel Andersen, who has been appointed to a senior position in Carlsberg A/S.

The brewer told Bursa Malaysia that Lehmann, 49, was the current regional CEO (Western Europe challenger markets) of the Carlsberg group which has a total turnover of RM6bil.

Andersen, also 49, who oversees operations in Malaysia and Singapore as well as an investment in Sri Lanka, would take over the position of managing director of Lao Brewery Company Ltd on July 1.

Andersen will, in his new role, report directly to Graham Fewkes, the group’s executive vice president (Asia), and will also be responsible for Carlsberg’s successful joint-venture partnership in Cambodia.

Fewkes commented: “Henrik has delivered excellent results throughout his three years at the Carlsberg Malaysia group. He has grown our business in a challenging macro-environment and delivered excellent shareholder returns.

“He successfully boosted the performance of our premium portfolio brands, restructured the businesses in a way that has delivered strong margin growth and built an empowered senior management team in both Malaysia and Singapore.”

The business in Laos is one of the largest businesses in the Carlsberg group and a crown jewel in its portfolio of companies.