Anheuser-Busch poised to help S&N

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch has reportedly approached Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) about helping it wrest control of Baltic Beverage Holdings (BBH) from Carlsberg.

The Sunday Times​ reports that approaches have also been received from private equity groups Blackstone and Texas Pacific Group.

S&N believes that Carlsberg broke its joint agreement in BBH when it made a joint bid with Heineken to takeover the British brewer.

S&N rejected an improved 780p a share offer from the Consortium last week and hope that an arbitration panel will force Carlsberg to sell its share in BBH.

The paper also reports that S&N chief executive John Dunsmore is considering making a bid of £4.6bn for Carlsberg's stake in BBH.

Dunsmore said: "We are totally committed to realising full value for our shareholders, however that may manifest itself. ​

"We have clearly stated the level at which we would engage with the Consortium and have again called for greater transparency on BBH.

"We would urge shareholders to continue to press the Consortium to co-operate in releasing the BBH information."

Meanwhile, S&N said trading for its full year results for 2007 remain in line with expectations.