Guinness to Buy Spain’s Top Brewery

Guinness PLC said Wednesday that it agreed to buy Spain’s largest brewer, Cruzcampo SA, for $1.02 billion (518 million pounds), giving it entry to Europe’s fastest-growing beer market.

Guinness said the transaction would make it the 12th-largest brewer in the world by volume and No. 4 measured by operating profits.

Guinness said the purchase was expected to be completed in January. Cruzcampo would become part of Guinness Brewing Worldwide Ltd., the Anglo-Irish firm’s main brewing subsidiary.

“The deal represents a key strategic move for Guinness Brewing Worldwide into the growing Spanish market,” the company said in a statement.

Guinness reached agreement with privately owned Detroit-based Stroh Brewery Co. to buy its 28% holding in Cruzcampo.

It said it would fund the transaction out of existing cash deposits and borrowing facilities.

Based in Seville, Cruzcampo is Spain’s largest and fastest-growing brewer, with a 22% share of the total Spanish beer market.

Cruzcampo Chairman Ignacio Ybarra Mendaro said the company needed an international group to help it develop further.