Northampton brewing giant Carlsberg reveals plans for £780m deal with Marston's PLC

Northampton-based Carlsberg UK has announced a £780 million deal to form a "joint venture beer company" with Marston's PLC.

The proposal will see both companies put their brewing and distribution assets into the new company, Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company.

Carlsberg will become the controlling shareholder, owning 60 percent of the joint venture, with Marston's owning 40 percent. They expect the deal to be concluded in the second half of this year. It is subject to shareholder approval at Marston's and competition clearance.

Carlsberg’s brands include Carlsberg Danish Pilsner, Carlsberg Expørt, Poretti, Tetley’s, Somersby cider and the London Fields Brewery craft portfolio, as well as the UK licence for San Miguel, Mahou and the Brooklyn Brewery craft beer portfolio.

The Marston’s portfolio includes Hobgoblin, Wainwright, Marston’s Pedigree and 61 Deep, and the company also owns the Banks’s, Jennings, Ringwood and Eagle beer brands. It also has the UK licence for global brands Estrella Damm, Shipyard, Erdinger, Warsteiner and Kirin.

Under the terms of the proposal, the joint venture will have access to the Marston’s pub estate for its beer portfolio through a long-term strategic partnership, a spokesman said. Marston’s operates around 1,400 pubs.

Marston’s Beer Company distributes to around 11,000 customers directly, including the independent free trade, other pub companies, the off-trade and export.

Tomasz Blawat, Managing Director of Carlsberg UK, said: “We are excited to move into the next phase of our growth strategy.

" After a successful relaunch of Carlsberg Danish Pilsner in the UK last year, we are now building a new beer company by combining two organisations with shared values and strong history and heritage in brewing.

“Our intent for the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company is for it to become a platform for growth for all of our customers and suppliers, offering a bigger beer portfolio of complementary international, national and regional brands. We believe the new business will deliver even more value for employees, customers and consumers, thereby creating greater future growth potential.”

Carlbserg CEO Cees ’t Hart says: “The creation of the joint venture is an important step forward for our UK business.

"The joint venture’s brand portfolio will allow us to offer a significantly stronger beer portfolio to our UK customers, and at the same time extend distribution into the Marston’s pub estate.

"In addition, the combined business will bring our customers wider choice, greater capacity, product innovation, and marketing and distribution efficiency benefits.”

Ralph Findlay, chief executive of Marston's, said: “This new partnership acknowledges Marston's strategy, position and consistent outperformance against the UK beer market, realising value for shareholders today, whilst retaining an interest in the future upside of the combined entity.

"Marston's strong heritage, extensive distribution platform and established reputation for brewing and logistics excellence, together with Carlsberg UK's values, long history in beer, brand portfolio and scale, combine the best attributes of both to create a compelling beer business with an outstanding portfolio of global and local beer brands, proven brewing expertise, strong distribution network and wholesale opportunity.”