The board of Scottish & Newcastle, the parent company of Beamish & Crawford, have agreed to recommend an offer by Heineken & Carlsberg to buy the company to its shareholders.

The bidding consortium have made an offer for S&N at £8 per share, with completion subject to a vote by S&N shareholders, legal and regulatory clearances and confirmation by Heineken and Carlsberg's own shareholders. The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2008.

Heineken have made public their intention to acquire S&N's businesses in the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, US, Venture Markets and India, while Carlsberg intend to acquire S&N's 50% share of BBH, plus businesses in France Greece, China and Vietnam.

As it will take some months to complete it is unknown at this point the nature of the impact the transaction will have for Beamish & Crawford. Established in 1792, Beamish & Crawford is the oldest brewery in Ireland and sells and distributes the following brands: Beamish Genuine Irish Stout, Beamish Red Irish Ale, Miller Genuine Draft, Kronenbourg 1664, Foster's Lager, Carling Lager, San Miguel and Scrumpy Jack Cider. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scottish & Newcastle PLC, the largest brewer in the UK and Ireland combined, and one of the world's top 10 brewers in volume terms.

The offer by Heineken and Carlsberg has led Cork Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer to call for the establishment of a taskforce by the Minister for Enterprise to examine, and respond to the possible buyout. "I am calling for a taskforce to be set up by the Minister. The taskforce should ask the following questions of the new owners before the Irish Government agrees to any such loss of competition in the marketplace.

"Does Heineken intend to retain Beamish, or shut down the brand thus removing a rival for Murphy's? Will Heineken retain the brewery on South Main Street or move production to Ladyswell to improve efficiency? What will happen to the South Main Street site in that event, and to the other assets? And is there any hope in all this that the 160 jobs in the firm will no disappear once the new owner takes over? We need to know these answers, as they will have a serious effect on the lives of the workers, and it is better to know now than be suddenly 'shocked' when the plant closes it doors for the last time," he concluded.

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