Foster’s have been playing down speculation over a potential joint international takeover, after rumours began to circulate last week.
The comments from the Australian company came after a sharp rise in share prices prompted ASX to speculate as to the group’s future.
Company Secretary Dan Last said that Fosters was “not aware of any unannounced information”, however, analysts have suggested that Molson Coors Brewing from the US and Grupo Modelo SAB from Mexico have been holding talks with global investment banks Deutsche Bank and Bank of America about financing a Foster’s takeover bid.
Neither company made comments concerning the issue last week, but the speculation resulted in a 7 percent surge in Foster’s share prices.
With a market capitalisation of $8.3 billion, Foster’s is one of a very small number of independent brewers that have so far survived consolidation. But since the announcement earlier this year that Foster’s was planning to spin out the Treasury wine division, there has been rumours of an international takeover.
Despite the strong Australian dollar dampening the current appeal of Fosters, several companies have been tipped as potential bidders, including: Japan’s Asahi, Coca-Cola Amatil and SABMiller.
The Herald Sun reported that Bloomberg announced five sources had verified that Molson Coors and Grupo Modelo were in the running for a takeover tilt.
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