Marston's and Carlsberg UK form brewing joint venture partnership

Marston’s and Carlsberg UK on Friday unveiled a new joint venture partnership to create a £780 million beer brewing giant.

The tie-up brings together Marston’s beer arm with Carlsberg UK’s brewing business. They are respectively valued at £580 million and £200 million.

Marston’s’ brands include Wainwright and Hobgoblin, and Carlsberg UK brews and sells beers such as Carlsberg Danish Pilsner.

Marston’s, whose pubs business is not part of the joint venture, gets a 40% stake in the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company plus £273 million. Carlsberg has a 60% stake in the new business.

Brewer Marston’s, which has around 1400 pubs, said the £273 million will help it pay down debts, and the deal will let it concentrate on the estate while retaining a 40% interest in “a larger, more attractive brewing business”.

Ralph Findlay, chief executive of Marston's, said: “This new partnership acknowledges Marston's strategy, position and consistent outperformance against the UK beer market, realising value for shareholders today, whilst retaining an interest in the future upside of the combined entity.”

He added: "Marston's strong heritage, extensive distribution platform and established reputation for brewing and logistics excellence, together with Carlsberg UK's values, long history in beer, brand portfolio and scale, combine the best attributes of both to create a compelling beer business with an outstanding portfolio of global and local beer brands, proven brewing expertise, strong distribution network and wholesale opportunity.”

Cees 't Hart, chief executive of Carlsberg Group, said: "The creation of the joint venture is an important step forward for our UK business. The joint venture's brand portfolio will allow us to offer a significantly stronger beer portfolio to our UK customers. In addition, the combined business will bring our customers wider choice, greater capacity, product innovation and marketing and distribution efficiency benefits."

The transaction is expected to complete in the third quarter this calendar year, subject to shareholder approval and competition clearance.