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Coors buys Carling for $1.7B
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December 24, 2001: 4:29 a.m. ET
No. 3 US brewer to buy Interbrew's Carling business to expand in UK
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LONDON (CNN) - Adolph Coors, the third-largest U.S. brewer, agreed on Monday to buy Interbrew's Carling business for $1.7 billion.
The acquisition gives Coors, the maker of Coors Light, Blue Moon Belgian White Ale and George Killian's Irish Red Larger, access to one of the world's biggest beer markets.
Carling is the best selling-beer brand in the UK. Coors also buys the Grolsch, which Carling brews under licence for the British market, Worthington and Caffery's beer brands with the acquisition of the Carling business, the second-largest in the UK.
Coors beat Dutch brewer Heineken, one of Interbrew's most bitter rivals, and private equity investor Apax Partners to buy the Carling business.
Golden, Colorado-based Coors (RKY: down $1.05 to $58.22, Research, Estimates) said it planned to finance the purchase with about $200 million in cash and a combination of bank and public debt. The company did not disclose further terms.
"The acquisition of the Carling business significantly increases the size of our company and broadens and diversifies its revenue base, resulting in a stronger, more resilient combined company," said Coors Brewing Company Chairman Peter Coors.
Interbrew, the Belgian brewer of Stella Artois and Labatt beers, was ordered to sell Carling by the end of February 2002 after the UK government objected to its control of the brewing market.
Interbrew, the world's second-largest brewer, bought Bass Brewers for $3.3 billion, increasing its UK market share to 32 percent. Interbrew started sending prospectuses to interested buyers of Carling in October.
Interbrew's stock slipped 0.2 percent to  29.09 in early Brussels trading on Monday. 
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