THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
In this issue of the World of Heineken our focus will be on the
new Operating Company Heineken Espaha, the result of the
merger between El Aguila and Cruzcampo in February 2000. A
merger that led surprisingly quickly to positive results and
favourable financial figures. But Chairman Piero Perron is not
celebrating just yet: "If we think we've won the final battle, we'd
be making a big mistake."
Heineken Espaha has only been formally in existence since
February 2000. The merger between the breweries of El Aguila
(part of the Heineken Group since 1984) and Cruzcampo, which
had been owned by Guinness (later renamed Diageo) since the
early 1990s, could have been completed before that date, as the
formalities for Cruzcampo's purchase by Heineken had already
been finalised in June 1999. But first it was necessary to wait for
approval from the Spanish competition authorities, who studied
whether this new combination would not play too dominant a role
in the Spanish beer market.
The competition authorities proposed a series of far-reaching
measures: the combined Heineken Espaha business could only be
given the go-ahead if it sold 17% of its brewing capacity and
stopped brewing brands such as Carlsberg, Miller and Henninger
under licence. In addition, several smaller brands had to be
disposed of. In total this involved a substantial volume of 1.3
million hectolitres on an annual basis. The authorities also put
great time-pressure on Heineken Espaha, as the licensing
agreements with Carlsberg, Miller and Henninger had to be
terminated at very short notice so as to obtain official approval
for the merger. For the sale of the smaller brands and the
breweries Heineken Espaha was granted a longer time-frame.
Carlos de Jaureguizar, Managing Director of Heineken Espaha,
looks back on that period with mixed feelings: "The authorities
forced us to rationalise the brand portfolio. We would perhaps
have done that ourselves in due course, but we were especially
unhappy about the speed at which things had to be completed. As
you can imagine, we wanted to be in control of developments
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