Vijay Mallya, owner of India’s biggest alcoholic drinks company, United Spirits, called for a potential tie-up with Diageo “a world-beating combination” as the companies seek foreign spirits sales in the world’s biggest whisky market. “ Diageo and the UB group have had a very long relationship,” Mr Mallya told the Financial Times. Diageo was “the right potential partner” for United Spirits, a division of UB, as it considers selling stock to raise cash, he said.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the newly merged global brewer, has revived its £6.5bn rights issue after offering shares at a 69 % discount to Friday's close. The equity issue, which will part-fund InBev's recently completed $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, was put on hold last month as the Belgian brewer cited “unprecedented volatility in the global capital markets”. Analysts said the speed with which it had resurrected the issue indicated that it believed that markets could worsen. Kristof Degraeve, at SG Private Banking, said: “The group said it would wait until financial markets had stabilised before launching the rights issue. I don't think we can say that markets have stabilised.”More on this story
Lord Bilimoria, the entrepreneur behind Cobra Beer, is again looking to sell the Indian-themed lager company he founded 18 years ago. The Asian peer is looking to raise up to £200m from the sale of the company only months after Diageo walked away from taking a minority stake, valuing the business at nearly £100m.
Heineken, The Dutch brewer’s Spanish division announced plans to cease operations at its brewery in Arano next year with the loss of 69 jobs.
Pernod Ricard, the French spirits and wine group, is considering the sale of coffee liqueur brand Tia Maria as it looks to offload £848m of assets in an effort to reduce debt levels.
PepsiCo, the food and snack company,has laid out a broad range of steps aimed at reinvigorating its US soft-drink business, including a redesign of its flagship cans, and the launch of its first drinks using a low-calorie natural sweetener. The new Pepsi brand design, which will be launched in the new year, comes as both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola face a continuing decline in consumption of sparkling drinks, as consumers switch to juices, teas and enhanced water.
Diageo has re-iterated its confidence that the group's Reserve collection of super premium spirits brands will stand firm against a global economic downturn.
Anheuser-Busch InBev shares fall sharply in late trading as speculation grows that world's largest brewer may soon be set to launch a planned $6.61mrights issue to fund the £35 purchase of Anheuser-Busch. Shares fall as much as 17.4% to 20.32 euros, having dropped 15.8% in the previous two sessions. The DJ Stoxx European food and beverage index is down 3.6%. The brewer, which sealed its takeover this week, had planned to carry out the rights issue last month, but postponed it due to volatile financial markets. InBev itself declines to comment on the timing.
London Pride firm Fuller, Smith & Turner said interim profits fell 6% to £12m during a challenging period for the pub and brewing industry. West London-based Fuller described its performance as "resilient" and hailed a 2.3% improvement in like-for-like sales at its managed pubs and hotels arm.
