Scottish & Newcastle's £1.27bn purchase of Finland's biggest brewer, which includes a 50% stake in the biggest beer company in Russia, looks certain to bring more pressure on the group to sell its pubs, bars and restaurants.
S&N controls more than 2,600 pubs and 150 hotels. The Daily Telegraph suggested on Friday it now seemed "inevitable" that S&N will bow to City pressure and sell its pub estate. It said the sale could raise £2bn and help pay off debt as well as lead to a re-rating of its shares.
Hartwall, founded in 1836, is best known in the UK for its Lapin Kulta beer. It has a 45% share of the Finnish beer and soft drinks market. It also has a 50% share in BBH, the leading brewer in Russia and the Baltic republics, with the remaining 50% held by Carlsberg Breweries.
The bid represents an ebitda multiple of 10.1x on Hartwall's 2001 results and approximately 8.8x based on market forecasts for 2002. Hartwall had a 2001 ebitda of Eu225m (£139m), up 45% on the previous year, on net sales of Eu807.6m, up 32%.
However, observers seem unsure whether the agreed takeover will make a tie-up between S&N and one or more of the world's other leading brewers more of less likely.
Lex in the Financial Times said S&N's move makes the company a more attractive target for the likes of Anheuser Busch or a merger with South African Breweries (SAB).
However, the same newspaper's Companies Report column says the bid effectively scotches a tie-up between S&N and SAB.
The Times in one article revives some analysts' view that a three-way-tie-up between SAB and Miller could be the next move. However, a brief in the Need to Know column it says the market thought a tie-up between SAB and S&N tie-up "less likely". The Daily Telegraph also thinks the Miller-SAB link could be out of the ballpark.
WestLB Panmure said the price of the bid was not over the odds and that Hartwall had good growth prospects. It upgraded S&N from "neutral" to "outperform".
Erik Hartwall, managing director of Hartwall, and Henrik Therman, the chairman of BBH, will join the board of S&N when the takeover is completed.
S&N controls more than 2,600 pubs and 150 hotels. The Daily Telegraph suggested on Friday it now seemed "inevitable" that S&N will bow to City pressure and sell its pub estate. It said the sale could raise £2bn and help pay off debt as well as lead to a re-rating of its shares.
Hartwall, founded in 1836, is best known in the UK for its Lapin Kulta beer. It has a 45% share of the Finnish beer and soft drinks market. It also has a 50% share in BBH, the leading brewer in Russia and the Baltic republics, with the remaining 50% held by Carlsberg Breweries.
The bid represents an ebitda multiple of 10.1x on Hartwall's 2001 results and approximately 8.8x based on market forecasts for 2002. Hartwall had a 2001 ebitda of Eu225m (£139m), up 45% on the previous year, on net sales of Eu807.6m, up 32%.
However, observers seem unsure whether the agreed takeover will make a tie-up between S&N and one or more of the world's other leading brewers more of less likely.
Lex in the Financial Times said S&N's move makes the company a more attractive target for the likes of Anheuser Busch or a merger with South African Breweries (SAB).
However, the same newspaper's Companies Report column says the bid effectively scotches a tie-up between S&N and SAB.
The Times in one article revives some analysts' view that a three-way-tie-up between SAB and Miller could be the next move. However, a brief in the Need to Know column it says the market thought a tie-up between SAB and S&N tie-up "less likely". The Daily Telegraph also thinks the Miller-SAB link could be out of the ballpark.
WestLB Panmure said the price of the bid was not over the odds and that Hartwall had good growth prospects. It upgraded S&N from "neutral" to "outperform".
Erik Hartwall, managing director of Hartwall, and Henrik Therman, the chairman of BBH, will join the board of S&N when the takeover is completed.
