March 31 - Shareholders in Scottish & Newcastle have voted overwhelmingly to back the £10 billion bid for Britain's biggest brewer by a consortium of Carlsberg and Heineken.
At an extraordinary general meeting today in Edinburgh, shareholders voted by an overwhelming majority to accept the bid. The decision requires further court approval with the final handover expected to take place on April 28.
The decision will result in S&N's businesses in the UK and Ireland, Finland, Portugal, Belgium and India going to Dutch multinational Heineken; with S&N's businesses in France, Greece, Russia, China and Vietnam going to Danish brewer Carlsberg.
S&N chairman Sir Brian Stewart told shareholders it was a 'momentous and historic day for Scottish & Newcastle, Britain's largest brewer and one of Scotland's oldest independent companies.'
S&N was founded 259 years ago in Edinburgh and first listed on the stock market over 120 years ago.
Sir Brian said: "While there is sadness at the passing of two and a half centuries of brewing history, the prevalent emotion today is pride -
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Pride in our people in building such a valuable and desirable global business
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Pride that our strong brands and the Scottish & Newcastle spirit will continue
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Pride that the vast majority of our colleagues will have new opportunities in the businesses in which they will play an integral part;
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Pride that we achieved a strong price for shareholders in increasingly weak world markets.
"Let me remind you that Scottish & Newcastle today is a top six global brewer - Scotland's largest industrial multinational - in the top half of the FTSE 100 - a market leader in the UK, France, Russia and India - a major exporter to the US; and the world's largest cider maker. It is precisely because we have achieved such strong positions worldwide that the company has been so attractive to others in a consolidating world market in brewing.
"Though today may be an end, it is also a beginning; a new opportunity for our people across the globe - including many still based here in Scotland - to grow within a larger worldwide group.
"The company may change, but Scottish & Newcastle lives on through its people..."