Foster’s Chief Executive Officer John Pollaers is introducing new brands
In addition to SABMiller and Asahi, media reports have linked Foster’s herve leger style dresses to interest from China’s Tsingtao Brewery Co. and Bright Food Group Co.
While Mexico City-based Modelo discussed with its directors a proposal to make a joint bid for Foster’s the plan wasn’t put up for a vote at a June 13 board meeting, a person with knowledge of the matter has said.
Akemi Banno, a spokeswoman for Tokyo-based Asahi, declined to comment today.
SABMiller’s offer would be the biggest takeover of a brewer since Scottish & Newcastle Ltd was acquired by Heineken NV and Carlsberg A/S for 9.5 billion pounds ($15.4 billion) in 2008.
It would eclipse Heineken’s 5.3 billion euro ($7.6 billion) purchase last year of the beer unit of Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB, producer of Dos Equis.
Foster’s Chief Executive Officer John Pollaers is introducing new brands to appeal to younger consumers herve leger bandage skirt and win back customers who switched to sweeter drinks such as pre-mixed spirits. He ran the beer unit for 13 months before the company spun off Treasury Wine Estates Ltd., the world’s second-largest wine business, to focus on reviving beer earnings.
Pollaers wants to boost Foster’s share of faster-growing craft and premium labels such as Fat Yak and Big Helga and reduce its reliance on stalling labels like Victoria bitter.
“There was always the prospect that once the group split there was going to be some attraction for an international brewer to look at the Foster’s brewing business,” Xiradis said in a phone interview today.
Foster’s, whose brands include its namesake lager and Carlton Draught, gets more than 90 percent of sales from brewing.
Kirin Holdings Co. paid a 44 percent premium for the 54 percent of Lion Nathan Ltd. it didn’t already own in 2009 in a deal that gave it full ownership of Australia’s second-largest brewer.
SABMiller hired JPMorgan Chase & Co., Moelis & Co., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Morgan Stanley as advisers, the brewer said in its statement.
The brewer, which started in 1895 selling beer to gold prospectors in South Africa, became SABMiller after South African Breweries Plc bought Miller Brewing Co. for $5.6 billion in 2002, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
SABMiller already has a beer business in Australia through its Pacific Beverages joint venture with Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd. (CCL), the nation’s biggest soft drink maker.
Foster’s rose as much as 14 percent to A$5.16 in Sydney trading, the biggest intraday gain since Nov. 30, 1993. The stock traded at A$5.12 as of 3:23 p.m. local time.
The offer by London-based SABMiller “significantly undervalues” Foster’s, the Australian brewer said. The 8.2 percent premium compares with an average of about 13 percent for brewery deals pending and completed in the past five years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“I’d guess that there’s room to go higher if you compare them to some recent deals,” said Will Seddon, who helps oversee more than $350 million at White Funds Management in Sydney. Melbourne-based Foster’s “will just stick to the line that it undervalues the company. There have been a whole lot of transactions in that space in recent years, many of which were done at pretty high multiples,” he said.
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