Diageo Plc is selling 19 lower-end spirits brands including Seagrams VO Canadian whisky and Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps to US-based Sazerac for $550 million, as it focuses on its premium labels such as Johnnie Walker in the United States.
The divestiture is the latest move from the world’s largest spirits company to trim its portfolio and concentrate more closely on its core business. In recent years, it has sold interests in wine, Red Stripe beer and the Gleneagles hotel and golf resort.
Diageo, also known for Smirnoff vodka and Guinness stout, said on Monday it would return the net proceeds of about £340 million ($438 million) to shareholders through a share repurchase.
The sale, which also includes whisky brands such as Seagram’s 83, Seagram’s Five Star and Jamaican rum Myers’s, will reduce Diageo’s pre-exceptional earnings per share by 1.9 pence per share in the first full financial year after closing.
Source: Economic Times 