Hopes that SABMiller could emerge as a 'white knight' bidder for Scottish & Newcastle, scuppering the £7.8bn joint bid for the brewer by Carlsberg and Heineken, ended last night with the cessation of secret negotiations.
S&N had been hoping that SABMiller would launch a rival offer, at more than 850p a share, in order to break “irrevocable commitments” secured by the European brewers with a number of S&N shareholders.
But after the Takeover Commission asked SABMiller to clarify its position, the firm responded: “Following the recent release of additional information on the underlying S&N business, [we] undertook a preliminary evaluation of the group but decided not to take further action.”
Under takeover regulations, SABMiller cannot now make a formal bid for S&N for at least six months, although it could look at buying parts of the business should its new owners decide to sell off parts.
S&N's last realistic chance of a counterbid now lies with Anheuser Busch, the US brewing giant, which has recently slipped from being the world's largest brewer, to third place, behind InBev and SABMiller.
Any deal will have to be tabled before April, when S&N will hold an EGM.
