The Russian market is hoping for a deal to be concluded. “These rumors were circulating two years ago, and no statements were made, but now it sounds quite plausible,” says Natalia Milchakova, head of the fundamental analysis department at the financial corporation Otkritie . Growth on Western European markets has slowed , but, for example, BBH is a promising asset. If S&N is bought at a premium to the market, this will contribute to the development of the Russian market and will help not only the producer of Baltika, but also other companies, such as EBI, the expert says.

Under the takeover plan, SABMiller will pay 7.1 pounds ($14.2) per share for the S&N business, or just over 9 billion pounds for the entire company, including debt. Diageo will also buy S&N's British business (Foster's beer, John Smith's, Strongbow cider) and Newcastle Brown Ale). S&N's French brand Kronenbourg will be sold, with SABMiller retaining other international assets of the British company, including a large stake in Indian brewery United Breweries and Chinese brewery Chongqing. The most important business that SABMiller will get is a 50% stake in share of Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), the owner of the Baltika brand. The remaining 50% is owned by competitor Carlsberg.

Plans to buy S&N have apparently been somewhat disrupted by the company's share price rising sharply over the past month, reaching £6 on Monday. Potential bidders have denied the existence of a plan to buy S&N, attributing the rumours to speculators. A convincing statement by SABMiller CFO Malcolm Wyman 12 April that the Western European beer market was “completely unattractive” and that the deal was “an old rumour that is being re-inflated.” But the Financial Times has established that Diageo and SABMiller have been discussing a joint plan, codenamed Project Spice, for months , in which potential participants are also given code names: Diageo is Dill, SABMiller is hidden behind Sage, and the target of the purchase, S&N, has the beautiful nickname Saffron.

Based on a total price tag of over £9bn for S&N, the plan is that after SABMiller buys the company, Diageo will pay just over £3bn for its UK business under an agreement already in place, with the French unit sold for over £1bn. billion pounds to private equity funds, a source in financial circles told the FT. Thus, for 5 billion pounds, SABMiller will receive the rest of S&N's international assets and leading positions in the Indian and Russian markets. Due to the savings resulting from the deal, Diageo and SABMiller expect to reduce costs by 100 million pounds each.

“SABMiller is one of the most dynamically developing companies on the Russian market; with such growth rates, it will need additional capacity tomorrow,” says Arsen Avetisov, Development Director of the distribution company Pivdom.

Diageo and SABMiller will split S&amp;N

Diageo and SABMiller will split S&N