SABMiller plc, the owner of Miller Brewing Co., announced January 7 will launch its previously announced agreement to buy all outstanding shares of the Dutch brewer Grolsch on Tuesday with a public offering slated to expire Feb. 5.

Anheuser-Busch is the exclusive U.S. importer of Grolsch, which includes the entire Grolsch brand line-up, including Grolsch Amber Ale, Grolsch Light Lager and Grolsch Blonde Lager.

The companies do not anticipate a change in the existing distribution agreements for the brand in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and certain smaller markets.

On Nov. 19, 2007, London-based SABMiller agreed to buy all outstanding shares of Koninklijke Grolsch NV, of Amsterdam, for 48.25 euros per share, or 816 million euros. The offer is valued at about $1.2 billion and runs from 9 a.m. Jan. 8 to 3 p.m. Feb. 5, Amsterdam time.

The management board of Grolsch has approved the agreement and is recommending acceptance of the offer to shareholders.

In a statement issued Monday, SABMiller said it may extend the offer period by two to four weeks, if necessary.

SABMiller has said it plans to grow the Grolsch brand, most notably in Africa and Latin America, as well as in ...More Info

British brewer Scottish & Newcastle, which is fighting to head off a takeover bid from Carlsberg and Heineken, said January 8 it has submitted a detailed claim to an arbitration court to secure control of Russian Baltic Beverages Holding, its 50-50 joint venture with Carlsberg, amid a bitter row with co-owner Carlsberg.

S&N said it could save nearly $200 million per year if it gained full control over BBH. The Danish-Dutch consortium is offering 750 pence per share, or $14.4 million, for the brewery — in a so-called friendly bid. The company's board has rejected the offer and has refused to engage in talks with the suitors. The UK Takeover Panel has given the consortium until Jan. 21 to either formalize its bid for S&N or pull out.

S&N said in a statement it laid the claim with the Arbitral Tribunal in Stockholm arising from what it argues were breaches by Danish group Carlsberg of the BBH Shareholders' Agreement.

John Dunsmore, the S&N Chief Executive, said: "While the consortium continues to seek to acquire S&N's unique portfolio of assets on the cheap, we are continuing to explore fully every option to deliver shareholder value. Carlsberg's desire to terminate the BBH joint ...More Info

Concern that the quality of some of the remaining potential malting barley in farm stores could be deteriorating has been played down, though growers are being advised to keep a close eye on any grain yet to be delivered, Farmers Weekly Interactive posted on January 08.

With supplies of good quality malting barley tight and getting tighter, according to Gleadell's Stuart Shand, growers with unsold barley should think about selling it as soon as possible to avoid deterioration.

Last season's unusual growing conditions seemed to have affected germination, even in crops harvested in good conditions, he warned."We are getting a lot of rejections, mainly for germination."

Growers hanging on for better premiums, already high, could end up disappointed if their crops slipped below the 98% required for malting, he said.

But Glencore's Nick Oakhill believed most problems occurred earlier in grain stored warm at high moistures."Some growers never had the opportunity to cool it."

Dormancy in winter varieties did seem higher than usual, he acknowledged, perhaps reflecting the odd season. "But most of the malting crop has already gone."

Greencore Malt's Adrian Dyter anticipated that most grain left on farms was in the hands of good growers. There was some dormancy in winter barley, the first ...More Info

IVAN BOHAČENKO(1), JOSEF CHMELÍK(2) and VRATISLAV PSOTA(3) (1)Food Research Institute Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; (2)Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic; (3)Research Institute of Brewing and Malting, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
BOHAČENKO I., CHMELÍK J., PSOTA V. (2006): Determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering. Czech J. Food Sci., 24: 11–18. A method was proposed for the determination of the contents of A- and B-starches in barley and for the use in plant breeding stations and brewing/malting laboratories. A combination was used of classical methods (incl. crushing of barley kernels by a roll crusher, steeping in 0.02M HCl, repeated rubbing and filtering through the sieve of 0.08 mm), and novel pieces of know-how (treatment with β-glucanase and cellulase, alkalisation at pH = 10.0 and centrifugation of crude starch suspension through the layer of CsCl). In this way, barley starch of high purity was obtained at a very low loss, using Low Angle Laser Light Scattering for the determination of the size distribution of starch granules. The boundary of the particle size between the peaks of A-starch and B-starch (7 μm) was evaluated from the distribution curves, while the contents of A- and B-starches were calculated from the cumulative curves. As a whole, the method was internally validated and for its repeatability and uncertainty of measurement the stimates of standard deviation s = 1.56 and confidence interval L1,2 = x ± 1.9% were established, respectively. Taking into account the generally well known difficulties associated with the extraction of substances from biological materials, in this case the separation of starch from barley kernels, we believe that the proposed method will bring satisfactory results in practice. Keywords: barley; A-starch; B-starch; starch granules; Low Angle Laser Light Scattering
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