Brewing family keen to continue manning the pumps at Heineken

Four generations and 150 years on from the founding father of Heineken, the Dutch brewing family shows no signs of wanting to relinquish control.

Begun in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken with the purchase of a brewery in Amsterdam, the company now has more than 165 plants in over 70 countries and is the world’s third-largest beer maker — yet his great-granddaughter Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken is still wedded to the firm.

The 60-year-old, the family’s leading figure, firmly rebuffed the advance of Heineken’s larger rival SABMiller last Friday about a possible takeover.