In a rare public statement Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) said it had won the right to buy F&N's 55 percent stake in their joint venture, Myanmar Brewery Limited, manufacturers of the country's best-selling Myanmar Beer.

The Myanmar firm insisted it had acted openly during the dispute with F&N. It has previously rejected suggestions that the dispute is a test of the country's investment laws as it opens up to international business.

"It is very important for Myanmar that foreign investors have confidence in the way we do business," U Myint Aung, MEHL deputy managing director said in the statement issued on 31st October.

"The conduct of this arbitration shows our commitment to the rule of law and that we will always adhere to due process," he added, stressing that the legal process had been held in Singapore in agreement with F&N.

The row centred on MEHL's claim that F&N had breached a condition of their joint-venture deal when the ownership structure was changed after Thai billionaire Mr Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi took over the Singapore-based group last year.

F&N confirmed that the tribunal agreed to let the Myanmar army-backed group buy its stake, but said it had ordered a fresh valuation of the holding.

Mr Huang Hong Peng, F&N's head of beer, said the US$246 million (K246 billion) offered by MEHL was "grossly inadequate" and did not take into account the brewer's leadership position in Myanmar's drinks market, with profits surging at a "phenomenal rate" of nearly 50 percent in the last year.

He said MBL was "one of the largest, most profitable and highest tax-paying companies in Myanmar.

"We are disappointed that this dispute has arisen, at a time when Myanmar is opening its market, and is on the cusp of the introduction of international beer competition,"

Mr Huang added that F&N would try to re-enter the Myanmar market.