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just-drinks.com editor's weekly highlights |
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In This Issue...
Food and Beverage 2007 4th June 2007, The Dorchester, Park Lane, London The rise of the new consumer: new expectations, new challenges: * The future for the industry (Quote booking reference 922DF when registering)
Two big deals stood out last week, with one drinks company offloading a non-core unit to a firm which had itself been a takeover target, and another company closing what has felt like the most drawn out sales process the industry has seen. Britvic’s purchase earlier in the week of C&C Group’s soft drinks and distribution business in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, comes at a time when the UK company has itself been the recent target of takeover speculation. Private equity firm Permira has reportedly been sniffing round Britvic for most of this year. So, how this acquisition will shape the future for a bunk-up between these two will make for interesting viewing – is Britvic a no-go now? Or is it looking even more attractive? We’ll keep you posted on how this pans out. Meanwhile, up in Scotland UB Group’s acquisition of Whyte & Mackay finally went through last week. The curious thing about this deal is how the Indian company has entered the Scotch whisky market, with the two countries at loggerheads over import duties and tariffs. General rumblings from Scotland have been favourable to the arrival of the Indians. Indeed, surely it can only be a positive that they will be able to see first-hand how Indian taxes hammer imported spirits. As one insider told me this week (and these are his words, not mine), it’s always better to have people like this inside your tent pissing out, than having them outside pissing in. This week will see us racing round the hall at ExCel in London at this year’s London International Wine & Spirit Fair. To those of you attending, I hope it’s a great success, and that you keep an eye out for us. To those of you who aren’t, don’t worry – we’ll have all the news from the event coming straight to you as we file from the fair. Once again, you’ll hear it all here, first. Until next time... Olly Wehring, Managing Editor Web: www.just-drinks.com
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Just the answer – Beam Global Scotch whisky [MEM] Beam’s acquisition of Teacher’s and Laphroaig may not have attracted as much attention as some other elements of the Allied Domecq sell-off but as Michael Cockram, Scotch brand director at Beam Global Spirits & Wine, makes clear in this month’s Just the Answer interview, the US-based company is committed to making its mark in the Scotch whisky sector. Related Stories Latest Discussions Latest jobs Key questions facing the wines and spirits industry – the just-drinks round table The Holy Grail for drinks companies is the pursuit of growth. But for wines and spirits producers, where is the growth coming from? What stands in the way of achieving growth and what marks out successful strategies that are most likely to foster growth? To answer these questions just-drinks solicited the views of a select group of the industry’s most successful practitioners and astute observers, comprising of James L. Bareuther, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brown-Forman Beverages; Gavin Hewitt, chief executive of The Scotch Whisky Association; Robert Sands, president and chief operating officer of Constellation Brands; Ian Shackleton, beverages analyst at Lehman Brothers; and just-drinks editor Olly Wehring. |
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