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Bass brews beer deal
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February 18, 2000: 4:45 a.m. ET
British brewer mulls sale of $2.9B beer division, to focus on hotels, pubs
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Bass said it is considering putting its brewing unit on the block, and may raise as much as 1.8 billion pounds ($2.9 billion) if it offloads Britain's second-biggest beer business to focus more on leisure and hotels.
The company confirmed press reports that it is discussing options for the unit, although it stressed that no decision has yet been taken on how to proceed. Bass shares moved sharply higher on the news.
The firm has received expressions of interest from international beer companies including Amsterdam-based Heineken and London-listed South African Breweries (SAB), the Financial Times reported Friday.
Denmark's Carlsberg, which owns Carlsberg-Tetley, the fourth-ranked brewer in Britain, is also known to be interested in boosting its market presence, although a further consolidation of power among the industry's top players is likely to face close scrutiny from competition regulators.
Bass's share price has slumped in recent months, and the newspaper reported that the company wants to focus on the brighter growth prospects for its leisure and hotel assets. The company owns 3,000 U.K. pubs plus the Holiday Inn and Inter-Continental hotel brands.
Bass's brewing unit owns its main brands, which include Worthington, a dark ale, Caffrey's Irish Ale and Carling lager. Competitors such as third-placed Whitbread (WTB) license several of their main brands from overseas companies. Whitbread intimated a willingness to sell its beer business last year as part of its unsuccessful attempt to buy the pubs division of Allied Domecq (ALLD). Allied eventually sold those pubs to a combination of Bass and Punch Taverns.
Bass (BASS) stock rocketed 10 percent in early London trade Friday to 767 pence. 
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Bass
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