Molson Coors names new top team

US brewer Molson Coors has appointed a former University of Wales graduate as its global president/chief executive.

Peter Swinburn's appointment will come at the end of this month, once SABMiller's and Molson Coors' proposed US joint venture has been finalised.

Swinburn occupies the same post at the Coors Brewing Company, having joined the business six years ago at the time of the Coors Brewers acquisition in the UK.

Having had a number of senior roles in the group he was responsible for introducing Molson Coors to several emerging markets, including Asia.

Molson Coors also announced Stewart Glendinning as its new global chief financial officer.

Glendinning, who joined the group in 2005, is currently the finance chief at UK-based Coors Brewers.

Eric Molson, the group's chairman, said both appointments illustrated the "extremely deep and talented management team" at the brewer.

"We are very pleased to have leaders like Peter and Stewart [who can] step seamlessly into these critical roles and take our company into its next exciting chapter," he added.

Last October SABMiller and Molson Coors signed a letter of intent to combine their US operations.

The move would "create a stronger, brand-led US brewer with the scale, resources and distribution platform to compete more effectively in the increasingly competitive US marketplace", the pair said in a joint statement at the time.

A London-based spokesman for SAB Miller said the new entity, Miller Coors, related to the US and would not be repeated in the UK.