S&N rejects Heineken/Carlsberg takeover bid

Scottish and Newcastle (S&N) has snubbed a £7.80 per share takeover bid from Heineken and Carlsberg, although the brewer has not ruled out accepting an offer of over £8 per share.

S&N, which owns the Kronenbourg, Strongbow and John Smith’s brands, says the recent offer from the pair “failed to be competitive”.

Heineken and Carlsberg say they will not make a hostile bid but urged S&N to begin negotiations.

The rival companies announced they were seeking to make a joint bid for the Scottish brewer in October but S&N immediately rejected a £7.3bn offer because it was “too low”. Carlsberg is keen for the bid to succeed as it is eyeing control of its Russian joint venture with S&N, Baltic Beverages Holdings, while Heineken is targeting S&N’s UK operations.

S&N has started arbitration against Carlsberg, alleging that the takeover approach broke the terms of its joint venture shareholding agreement.