We got a little excited – as did several thousand of our readers, if the page hit-rate is to be believed – about our Diageo-Zacapa exclusive story last week. On Thursday, the drinks giant exercised its option to snap up half of the Guatemalan rum brand from owners ILG and, more importantly, will now have control over Zacapa.

When contacted by just-drinks, Diageo declined to give financial details behind the purchase, saying only that it “meets Diageo's investment criterion”.

There are several reasons that I'm aware of why a publicly-limited company would choose not to publish M&A numbers – among them are, if it feels the amount it has paid is negligible in the wider scheme, or if the other side has requested the figures remain private.

One other reason – and one that we think might be the case here – is if the buyer is looking to make further purchases in the near-future, and doesn't want to give its targets some numbers to play with ahead of an approach.

Of late, Diageo has been linked with every drinks company thought to be looking to sell. While some of this speculation has certainly been pedalled by those with an agenda, it would be fair to say, surely, that Diageo will be looking to make further buys in the coming months.

Whether the reports are trumped up or genuine, you can be sure just-drinks will apply its filter with aplomb.

Elsewhere in the drinks world last week, we cast our eye over the spike in malting barley prices and what this could mean for brewers.

Brown-Forman reported a largely healthy set of full-year numbers, although the group said that it is on the lookout for acquisitions to boost its presence outside of the US.

Rémy Cointreau also reported full-year results and may also be in the field for acquisitions. The group's profits suffered due to an impairment charge on Metaxa in Greece, but analysts remained largely upbeat on the company's prospects.

Until next time...

Olly Wehring
Managing Editor
Web: http://www.just-drinks.com
Email: editor@just-drinks.com
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