Coors to purchase British brewer in its largest acquisition

Interbrew of Belgium was ordered to sell Carling by British regulators, who objected to its dominance in the beer market after the acquisition of Bass Brewers and Whitbread last year. Interbrew, which makes Stella Artois, will retain Bass Brewer's operations in Scotland and Ireland, a brewery in Prague and the global rights to Bass Ale and Tennent's.

Coors, which also has operations in Canada, Japan and China, said it would finance the purchase with US$200 million in cash and the rest in debt. Peter Coors said he would prefer to reduce that debt before embarking on further acquisitions.