Did it make a play or not? Or is BRL Hardy’s on again-off again affair with major US producer Kendall-Jackson simply a reflection of how hard it really is to pin down the details of what it might actually be negotiating for? On March 1 BRL’s managing director Stephen Millar was quoted as saying that the company had expressed an interest and that the money was available to facilitate the purchase (then estimated between US$1.2-1.5 billion) if K-J was attractive enough. On March 23, despite a report to the contrary in the Australian Financial Review and a comment to the same effect by a BRL spokesman to Reuters newsagency, the company issued a statement that it had not lodged a preliminary offer for K-J, but had expressed an interest in its assets. On May 4 Millar said he was lodging a bid, and expected to have a ‘reasonable’ chance, despite a potential price tag of A$2.5 billion. Industry sources had also told Reuters that BRL Hardy was the only company to have an offer on the table for K-J. BRL Hardy has also been linked to Buena Vista and Pineridge in the Napa Valley. It is widely believed that if it makes a bid for K-J, BRL will be directly up against the world’s two largest spirits groups, Diageo Plc and Allied Domecq Plc, plus the US-based Brown-Forman Corp. While the company reported a 27% increase in 2000 net profit to $63.5 million, North America accounts for just 7% of BRL’s profit, a situation the company is seeking to improve upon by growing its Australian brands in the US and by owning a US-based brand.
