Netherlands & UK: EU extends review of Heineken

The European Commission pushed back the deadline by which it must decide whether to let Dutch beer giant Heineken buy portions of rival Scottish & Newcastle, Reuters reported March 3.

The merger review, which also involves Denmark's Carlsberg, was delayed to April 4 from March 18.

Ireland has asked that the review of part of the deal be referred to it, a regular list of mergers under scrutiny by the European Union's executive arm showed on Monday. Carlsberg and Heineken agreed this year to buy Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) for 7.8 billion pounds ($15.5 billion) to carve up Britain's biggest brewer, whose products include Foster's, Kronenbourg and Newcastle Brown Ale.

Heineken will take over S&N's British business, which includes Strongbow cider and John Smith's beer, along with its operations in other European markets such as Belgium, Portugal and Ireland, plus its U.S. and Indian businesses.

Ireland would review that part of the deal involving its territory.

05 March, 2008