China: Scottish & Newcastle announced on November 8, 2004 that, further to previous announcements, it had completed the purchase of 50 million shares in the Chongqing Brewery Co. Ltd, (‘CBC’) representing 19.51% of the total equity and becoming the second biggest shareholder of CBC. The purchase price, as previously announced, was Rmb 525m (c.£34.5m) in cash.

The shares were purchased from Chongqing Beer (Group) Co. Ltd (‘CBG’) which remains, after this transaction, the largest shareholder with 34.55% of the total equity.

09 November, 2004