E-Malt.com News article: 2112

Britain's biggest brewer Scottish and Newcastle and Denmark's Carlsberg (Carlsberg-Tetley) are joining forces in the UK to supply pubs with equipment to bring beer from the cellar to the glass, they said on January 28. Technical service operations across the brewing industry provide the equipment and associated support to dispense draught beer from cellar to glass.

Both parties believe that this proposal is the best way to secure significant benefits for customers, including enhanced services, quicker response times and unrivalled product quality. Furthermore, benefits would be derived through streamlined processes, reduced administration costs and a reduction in duplicated activities.

The new company, Serviced Dispense Equipment Ltd (SDEL), would own all the dispense assets of both brewers. The pooling of the assets would improve efficiency and simplify processes and the new company would be owned by Carlsberg-Tetley, Scottish Courage and companies controlled by Mr. Mike Foster and Mr. Nick Bryan respectively. It is planned that SDEL will acquire total assets to a value of £115m.

In addition, a new service company, called Innserve Ltd, would be formed to manage the servicing and installation of technical services equipment on behalf of Serviced Dispense Equipment Ltd. The new service company, would be wholly owned by Mike Foster and Nick Bryan. Messrs. Foster and Bryan have extensive experience in the brewing and licensed retail industry.

The proposal will shortly be submitted to the OFT for regulatory approval. A decision is expected in approximately 4 weeks. Full consultation with staff affected, will commence immediately and further details of the business will be announced in due course. It is anticipated that the new service company will be fully operational in the autumn of 2004.


30 January, 2004