DIAGEO’S PAUL WALSH HAS WINE ON THE BRAIN

The time is ripe for mergers and acquisitions as almost all alcohol beverage companies are currently looking to get more involved in whichever sector they currently hold a minority stake. A-B and Constellation is leaning towards spirits, while Diageo is looking at wine.

Diageo chief Paul Walsh told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview released Sunday:


"We already bought the Chalone group in California. There will be a whole lot of these opportunities and we will make these acquisitions."

As Reuters pointed out, Diageo generally prefers to grow internally versus taking on acquisitions, which Walsh touched on in the interview.

"We'll only buy something that is growing faster than our current portfolio. On top of that, it has to produce a return over three or four years that is higher than our cost of capital.”