EU clears cider deal
EU regulators today approved brewer Scottish & Newcastle’s purchase of cider producer HP Bulmers Holdings.
The European Commission said the deal – worth £278 million – presents “only minor overlaps” in the British market that “did not raise any serious competition concerns.”
Bulmers has been hit by a sluggish cider market and declining profit margins. The company’s debt jumped over the last five years as it over-stretched in an international expansion drive.
Bulmers is the British market leader in cider with brands including Strongbow, Woodpecker and Scrumpy Jack.
Scottish & Newcastle, which owns the Newcastle Brown, Fosters, Kronenbourg and John Smith’s beer labels, has been aggressively expanding as it struggles to reshape itself against a backdrop of declining beer consumption.
