Baltika beer is not for sale, Scottish & Newcastle brewers said yesterday, in an attempt to kill speculation that Carlsberg, its partner in the brand's parent company Baltic Beverages Holding, was intent on making a bid for total control.
The Scottish brewer was responding to statements from Carlsberg's new chairman, Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen, who told a Danish newspaper that his group had the financial muscle to buy out S&N from their eastern European joint venture.
Larsen, who valued S&N's half of BBH at between £3bn and £4bn, said: "We can definitely see the advantages to having 100% ownership of BBH. We have built up the capital capacity so we can react the day it becomes possible."
BBH's key asset is an 80%-plus shareholding in Russia's biggest brewer Baltika. The joint venture also operates in a number of other eastern European markets including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Belarus and the three Baltic states.
However, an S&N spokesman said: "We are very happy with the relationship with Carlsberg and the joint ownership of BBH and that is, and will remain, the position. We are very happy with the status quo. We have worked very closely with Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen in BBH and we look forward to working with him in his new position as chief executive of the whole group."
Larsen said the main advantage of owning all of BBH for Carlsberg would be to increase the marketing of the Carlsberg and Tuborg brands in Russia. He added: "Of course there is competition between Scottish & Newcastle and Carlsberg to have our own brands marketed as effectively as possible. If we had 100% ownership of BBH, we could decide for ourselves how we wish to market our products alongside Baltika's products."
S&N shares dropped 2.7% to close 18.5p down at 612p as analysts concluded that the Carlsberg chairman's comments suggested the Danish brewer was only interested in BBH, and not the whole of S&N.
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