Japan's Asahi to sell shares worth $1.5b to help pay for Australia beer unit

Japan's Asahi to sell shares worth $1.5b to help pay for Australia beer unit

Tokyo businessmen toast with mugs of Asahi Breweries' beer after their office hours at a beer garden at the rooftop of Nihonbashi-Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo July 30, 2013. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Japanese beverage maker Asahi Group Holdings said on Tuesday it would raise up to $1.5 billion in a share offering to help repay loans taken out to buy a beer company in Australia.