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SABMiller Buys Grolsch for $1.2B |
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Monday, 19 November 2007 |
LONDON: London's SABMiller PLC, the world's third-largest brewer, agreed to buy Dutch rival Royal Grolsch N.V. for $1.2 billion, the companies said today.
The $70.75-a-share cash deal, subject to 75 percent shareholder approval, values Grolsch at 84 percent more than the company's average closing share price over the past month and 79 percent more than its last closing price, the company said.
Grolsch said in a statement its management and boards unanimously supported the offer.
The 392-year-old Grolsch brand—the Netherlands' second largest brewer after Heineken—will become one of the pillars in the SABMiller portfolio, the companies said.
SABMiller said it saw "significant additional potential for the Grolsch brand across Africa and Latin America, where the premium segment is still in its infancy, and in the more developed markets of central and Eastern Europe."
Grolsch's annual sales top $440 million.
SABMiller, founded in South Africa as South African Breweries in 1895, merged with No. 2 US brewer Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee in 2002.
Grolsch jumped more than 76 percent near SABMiller's bid price to $69.44 on the Euronext N.V. exchange. SABMiller shares fell 1.56 percent to $2.72 on the London Stock Exchange.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International |
