Magners owner buys Tennent’s
C&C Group has bought Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Irish, Northern Irish and Scottish businesses in a bid to establish its flagship cider brand Magners in those countries.
The company acquired the businesses, which include Scottish lager brand Tennent’s, for £180m.
C&C says the purchase will provide a “route to market for Magners cider in both Northern Ireland and Scotland”, while providing the group with an “iconic leading brand”in Tennent’s.
Tennent’s Lager is Scotland’s leading lager brand where it accounts for 55%
of all lager sold to the Scottish on-trade in terms of volume and around 30% of the
Scottish off-trade.
It emerged last month that AB Inbev was readying the sale of Tennent’s in a bid to reduce some of the debt it took on when it formed from the merger of Inbev and Anheuser-Busch last year.
C&C Group has been looking to boost flagship Magners. It recently launched a review of the advertising account, while earlier this year announced it was looking to improve the effectiveness of its marketing in light of falling sales and increased competition from the likes of Bulmers.
As part of the deal, C&C Group has acquired distribution rights to some AB Inbev brands in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, including Stella Artois and Beck’s.
