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June 1997 Home
Spring Cleaning Notes:
-- Canada and the US
-- Europe
-- Around the Globe
Click on any of the book covers below to get ordering information.
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Stephen Beaumont's Brewpub Cookbook |
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A Taste For Beer |
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Great Canadian Beer Guide |
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A World of Beer |
Spring Cleaning Notes: Europe
In case you missed it, one of the biggest mergers the English food and beverage biz has ever seen has recently been proposed, and if completed, will result in the seventh largest food and drinks company in the world.The potentially merging companies are Guinness PLC, makers of the world's most famous stout and numerous spirits brands including Johnny Walker Whisky and Gordon's Gin, and Grand Metropolitan PLC, owners of the Smirnoff Vodka and J&B Whisky brands as well as Pillsbury and Burger King. According to a Washington Post story published May 13, the resulting company would have a market value of about US$37 billion (based on stock prices that day).
But the road to the massive merger may not be all stout and burgers. In a Wall Street Journal story published in the May 29 edition of The Globe and Mail, it is reported that LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA has thrown a potential wrench into the works by threatening to exercise an option that could seriously impact upon Guinness' distribution ventures.
According to the story, LVMH, which owns 14% of Guinness, claims that it has the right to buy at net asset value Guinness' share in their 17 joint venture distribution businesses if the ownership of Guinness changes hands. LVMH further states that it also has the right to buy at a deep discount the 34% stake that Guinness has in Moët Hennessy under the same circumstances.
Not surprisingly, Guinness is contesting LVMH's claims by stating that the proposed merger does not constitute a change in ownership.
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