Brewer set for takeover
SHAREHOLDERS of brewer Scottish and Newcastle, which has a depot on Teesside, are to meet in Edinburgh to vote on a proposed £7.8bn takeover of the company today.
Shareholders will gather to call time on more than 250 years of history for the UK’s biggest brewer, which will be the last to pass into overseas ownership.
Investors are expected to approve the takeover by European giants Heineken and Carlsberg, which will herald a break up of the business. Any job losses are expected to be confined to S&N’s HQ.
A spokesman for the firm previously said there was “no reason why the Darlington depot should be affected”.
S&N’s board finally agreed to the duo’s fourth offer for the company in January following a three-month pursuit during which the board held its nerve and saw the offer price rise from 780p per share to 800p. On Friday, S&N were trading at just over 788p per share.
S&N, which makes Newcastle Brown Ale, is the world’s seventh largest brewer. Under the deal, its UK operations will go to Heineken, which has no brewing facilities in Britain, while Carlsberg picks up S&N’s business interests in Russia where it previously had a joint venture with the firm.
