Merger plan for Beer Seller and Waverley

By Andrew Pring Customers and suppliers to Beer Seller will have to wait up to three months before Scottish Courage unveils its plans for merging the country's biggest real-ale wholeseller with Waverley, its wine and spirits business, to create the country's leading wholesaler. But already this week, Scottish Courage chairman John Duns-more was talking of introducing a new specialist beer arm, with the prospect of exciting beers from around the world being widely available in Britain from next year. And although no decision has yet been taken on who will head the new company, Beer Seller's highly regarded MD Jeff Jamet has said he would like the job. News that the £450m merger is being considered emerged last week following internal briefings at both companies. S&N said the deal was "highly likely" to take place, but must now talk with employees about staffing levels and other employment issues. Leading ale producers, who did not want to be named, said the continued independence of Beer Seller would be crucial to its future success under Waverley. They said the current extensive product choice and availability needs to continue. But Roger Clayson, sales director at Adnams, welcomed the news, saying: "It's an exciting opportunity for Beer Seller, and I think it'll be good for all its customers." Liz Guilmant, Beer Seller brand manager, said the issue of independence was recognised at the company. "This is absolutely key," she said, "but we believe that working with Waverley can lead to investment that will allow us to build a better and stronger company." John Dunsmore, chairman of Scottish Courage, told the MA: "The issue we'll be looking at over the next three months is how we can create a really successful company, and that doesn't mean how much money we can save. "We rate Beer Seller very highly, and we don't want this to be seen as a big company swallowing up a smaller one. We respect its specialism and the way Jeff Jamet has kept Beer Seller fleet of foot, low cost and customer dedicated. We must avoid big company bureaucracy and the blunderbuss approach. With some tender loving care, we can make one plus one equal three." Dunsmore added: "We're also thinking about specialist beers and how we can offer them in addition to the real ales already supplied. It's a twinkling in our eye, but we have a number of specialist beers available through our overseas companies these days.