By Ben Dummett 

A group of five of bidders have made it to through to the second round in the auction of the SABMiller's Eastern European beer brands, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Each bidder is offering significantly more than EUR5 billion ($5.43 billion) for the assets that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV is selling as part of its pact with European regulators to win approval earlier this year for its acquisition of the London-based brewer, the person said.

The second round bidders include Japan's Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., a joint bid by private-equity firms Bain Capital and Advent International, PPF Group, a financial investment group founded in the Czech Republic, but currently domiciled in the Netherlands, China Resources, and Zurich-based Jacobs Holding AG, which is backed by PSP Investments, a Canadian pension fund, according to the person familiar with the matter.

Bain declined to comment. Advent declined to comment. Asahi couldn't immediately be reached for comment. PPF couldn't immediately be reached for comment. China Resources couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Jacobs didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The successful groups were chosen from at least 10 different offers, this person said. The strong interest in the beer brands is evidence of the steady revenue and potential growth beer sales offer because of the beverage's widespread popularity. Those that didn't make it through to the second round included an offer from CVC Capital Partners and another submitted by KKR & Co., another big private-equity firm, according to the person familiar with the matter. CVC and KKR couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

AB InBev is offering SABMiller's assets in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, which include the rights to Pilsner Urquell outside the U.S. and Polish beers Tyskie and Lech, Hungarian beer Dreher, and Romanian beer brand Ursus. The Next round of bids are due before Christmas.

Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2016 15:23 ET (20:23 GMT)