S&N rejects futher takeover bid from brewing giants

Scottish & Newcastle continued to frustrate Carlsberg and Heineken today after the UK firm rejected another takeover approach from the brewing giants.

The pair’s latest proposal valued S&N at £7.6bn (€10.1bn), but the Kronenbourg 1664 and Foster’s maker indicated that an offer worth at least £7.8bn (€10.4bn) was needed before it would consider engaging with its continental rivals.

S&N said the latest approach at 780p a share failed to reflect the “strengths and market positions” of the company. The Carlsberg consortium has made two other indicative offers, with the first coming in October.

Carlsberg president Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen said it was now up to shareholders to lobby the S&N board if they wanted the deal to go through.

He said: “The consortium’s increased proposal represents a very generous proposition to S&N shareholders by any measure.”

Danish firm Carlsberg and Dutch brewer Heineken plan to carve up S&N if they succeed in their overtures for the business. Their approach is conditional on a board recommendation and extensive due diligence.

Carlsberg wants to take S&N’s stake in their 50/50 Russian joint venture BBH, as well as the firm’s operations in France and Greece. Heineken is looking to gain S&N’s UK business and operations elsewhere in Europe. The fast-growing BBH is seen as the jewel in the crown of S&N’s business.

S&N, which also makes John Smith’s, has around 3,300 staff in the UK. It has breweries in Manchester, Reading, Dunston near Newcastle, and Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire.

The company also owns the Bulmers cider mill in Hereford and has administrative staff in Edinburgh and Staines, Middlesex.