The £2.3 billion sterling (€3.7 billion) takeover of Bass's UK beer operations by the brewer of Stella Artois has been blocked by the British government over fears it would reduce competition in the industry.
The deal would have brought together many of the UK's best known and best-selling lagers and bitters, including Carling, Stella Artois, Boddingtons, Worthington and Caffrey's.
In a surprise decision, Mr Stephen Byers, the British Trade and Industry Secretary, ordered Interbrew, the world's second largest brewer, to put the Bass breweries it bought in June back up for sale.
Bass operates a brewery on the Glen Road in west Belfast employing 450 people. The Sinn Fein MP for the area, Mr Gerry Adams, criticised the ruling, saying it had reintroduced uncertainty over the future of the site. Mr Byers said he was basing his decision on the deal on reports from the competition commission and the Director General of Fair Trading. "It would reduce competition in the market, lead to higher prices for end consumers and reduce consumer choice," Mr Byers said. Mr Byers said the deal would have created an "effective duopoly" of Interbrew, which has a 32 per cent market share, and Scottish & Newcastle, with 28 per cent. Shares in Interbrew stood more than 20 per cent lower at €28.50 in lunchtime trading in Brussels.
The third-ranking brewer in Britain, Carlsberg-Tetley, which has a 13 per cent market share and had attempted to buy Bass, is one of the favourites to buy the company following Mr Byers' sale order.
