Carlsberg and Heineken buy Scottish & Newcastle
The UK's largest brewer, Scottish & Newcastle, finally accepted the hostile joint bid by Danish brewer Carlsberg and Dutch brewer Heineken. S&N's resistance forced the bid up to $15.4 billion. Heineken is the #4 brewer worldwide, while Carlsberg is #5.
Carlsberg gets the operations in France (Kronenbourg), Greece, Vietnam and China, Most important, it buys out S&N half share in Russian brewer Baltic Beverage Holdings, a fast growing brand to an increasingly well-off Russian (and Ukrainian) audience.
Heineken gets S&N's large UK operations, as well as S&N operations in Ireland, Portugal, Finland (where its Hartwall division is #1), Belgium, the U.S., and India.
Also this week, Heineken announced a partnership with Russian brewer Efes Breweries International (EBI) to start operations in Uzbekistan. The two companies will also combine operations in Kazakhstan and Serbia.
The race for global domination continues, along with the search for the few growing markets - Eastern Europe, India, and China. WIth InBev, Anheuser-Busch, and SAB Miller continuing to grow, Heinken and Carlsberg need to swallow or get swallowed.
9:00:30 PM 
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