Allied Domecq counter bid

THE world’s largest wine company, Constellation Brands, said yesterday it was considering a possible counter bid for Allied Domecq , which agreed to be taken over by Pernod Ricard last week.

“Constellation is at an early stage of evaluating its options with a number of potential partners and there is no certainty that this process will lead to an approach being made to the company,” Constellation said in a statement after a number of press reports linked it with a bid for Allied.

Last week, Irish Distillers’ parent Pernod and its US-based partner Fortune Brands agreed a €10.8bn largely cash takeover of Allied, which valued Allied’s shares at 670 pence each.