HOT TRUB
December 27,
2000
Edited by: Peter LaFrance (peter.lafrence@beerbasics.com)
Presented by: American Brewer
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Vol. 1 No. 10
This newsletter will post items of special interest to brewers, members of the
brewing and distilling community, and members of the media that covers the
beverage alcohol business.
Should you wish to contribute in any way to this venture please contact Peter
LaFrance at peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
If you wish to be dropped from this list please respond to this posting to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com and
include the word remove in the Subject: line.
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On December 20th PRNewswire reported that Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. is in the process of acquiring the assets of Brew Moon Enterprises, including four Brew Moon establishments located in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. (There was no mention of the unit in Hawaii.) According to the report Rock Bottom expects no major concept changes to take place.
Brew Moon was known for its creative, contemporary menu. In 1998 Bon Appetite named it one of the country's best new restaurants.
The acquisition of Brew Moon will establish the third brewery group in the Rock Bottom family consisting of seventy-three restaurants across the country including the Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery, Walnut Brewery, and Old Chicago restaurants.
According to PRNewswire, “Transition teams are already in place and the process is being spearheaded by Fred Rash and Rock Bottom Vice President of Training, Jeff Willison.”
On December 19 Reuters reported that Diageo and Pernod Ricard took over the Seagram wines and spirits empire, debt free, for $8.15 billion in cash, conditional on clearance by anti-trust authorities. This follows the French media group Vivendi's purchase of Seagram's entertainment holdings including Universal Studios.
According to the report, Diageo and Pernod will, “… split up the 76-year old Seagram business between them 61:39 in favour of Diageo, and sell off some of the smaller brands, with Diageo providing $5 billion of the funding for the deal and Pernod $3.15 billion.”
Diageo fills gaps in its portfolio with Captain Morgan rum and Canadian whiskies and adds to its wine list. Pernod gains greater distribution in the key North American market and clout in the profitable scotch market, becoming the third largest global spirits company after Diageo and Allied Domecq.
The brands acquired by Diageo add up to nearly 17 million 12-bottle cases with sales of just over $1 billion and will push group total sales well over 100 million cases annually. Diageo gets Captain Morgan, Crown Royal and VO Canadian whiskies, 7 Crown American whiskey and the Sterling Vineyards wines from the Seagram's portfolio. It also gains local brands Cacique rum in Venezuela and Spain, Windsor Premium whisky in South Korea and U.S. premium run Myers. Diageo was most interested in obtaining the Captain Morgan brand, the fastest growing of Seagram's top ten brands with volumes up 19 percent in 1999.
Diageo which already owns Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka, was picking up high-margin products, and would now have 18 of the world's top 100 spirits brands and increase its share of the important North American spirits market to 22 percent from 15 percent previously, as the result of merging its two main businesses, UDV wines and spirits and Guinness beer this year, to focus on alcoholic drinks.
Pernod picks up around 14 million cases with sales of $1.2 billion and will now challenge Allied for number two spot. Pernod will get Seagram's scotch whisky brands including Chivas Regal, Glen Grant, Royal Salute and Glenlivet single malt as well as Martell cognac and Seagram's Gin, and several national brands in Latin America, Asia and Europe.
And finally…