News Briefs for April 8, 2014

•Brown-Forman is said to have joined the ranks of final-round bidders for Whyte & Mackay, the Scotch whisky business owned by Diageo-controlled United Spirits Ltd., reports Reuters. Other potential suitors include SPI Group, Gruppo Campari and ThaiBev, as well as private equity groups Lion Capital, KKR & Co. and TPG Capital Management, among others. Just five parties, however, are rumored to be participating in the final round of bidding. Final bids for Whyte & Mackay, which sources estimate could go for around £350-£400 million ($580-$660m), are due by April 17.

•Beam Inc. is releasing the latest expression of Sauza Tequila’s ready-to-serve Sparkling Margarita range, Sauza Sparkling Margarita Watermelon. Following last year’s successful launch of the Sparkling line—which includes Original Lime, Wild Berry and Mango Peach—Watermelon will launch this month with a suggested retail price of $12.99 a 750-ml. The 9.95%-abv extensions use Sauza Silver Tequila for a base that is complemented by Triple Sec and made sparkling. Sauza Tequila, the U.S. market’s second-largest Tequila brand by volume, reached nearly 3.6 million cases last year.

•Agave Loco’s RumChata cream liqueur brand has launched its new RumChata Summer Iced Coffee Sampler Pack nationwide. The pack, which includes two 8-ounce cans of Casa del Sol coffee and a 750-ml. bottle of RumChata, provides the ingredients needed to make a RumChata iced coffee cocktail. The RumChata Summer Iced Coffee Sampler Pack is priced at around $19.95, in line with a regular 750-ml. of RumChata. An Impact “Hot Brand,” RumChata was up 26% last year to reach 460,000 cases in the U.S.

Tagged : Beam Inc, Brown-Forman, RumChata, Sauza, Whyte & Mackay

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