Guinness Brewers to Take Over Giant Scotch Whisky Firm

The British brewing group Guinness, known worldwide for its dark Irish stout, and Distillers, Scotland’s whisky giant, today agreed to a record $3.2-billion merger agreement, the biggest in British history.

Distillers has been fiercely fighting a hostile takeover bid by another firm since last month.

Distillers’ Scotch whisky brands include Johnnie Walker and White Horse. The merger, which will give Guinness an estimated 40% of the British domestic trade in whisky, could also make it the biggest exporter of Scotch.

Guinness already owns Distillers’ competitor Arthur Bell, which it bought last year.

Guinness, whose value is put at half that of Distillers, is offering eight of its ordinary shares and $10 in cash for every five shares of Distillers. This values each Distillers share at $8.90