USA: Molson Coors Brewing is absolved of any enforcement action against the company by the Securities and Exchange Commission

Molson Coors Brewing Co. said November 21 that Securities and Exchange Commission staffers have recommended closing an investigation of its merger without taking any enforcement action against the company, the Huston Chronicle learned November 21 from The Associated Press.

The SEC began investigating the world's fifth-largest brewer in June 2005 after several lawsuits filed in the United States and Canada alleged the company and some of its officers and directors misled shareholders by not disclosing first-quarter business trends before shareholders voted on the merger.

Molson Coors Brewing was formed in February 2005 with the merger of Canadian-based Molson Inc. and Golden, Colorado-based Adolph Coors Co. Brands include Coors Light, Molson Canadian, Molson Dry, Carling, Kaiser, Coors, and Zima.

In April 2005, Molson Coors reported a first-quarter loss of $46.5 million, mainly due to special charges from the merger and lower sales in each of its four key markets. Excluding one-time items, it said the loss came to $5.1 million. Molson Coors class B shares dropped 18.5 percent on the news.

A month later it revised the adjusted loss to $8.4 million to reflect a change in how it accounted for a minority interest Brazilian shareholder.

Molson Coors shares fell 18 cents to $70.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.

22 November, 2006