It’s another day of corporate news in Australian wine, none of which makes for particularly exciting copy. Southcorp has appointed its new chief executive, which, contrary to widely reported rumours in the wine trade, is not the chief executive and president of the America’s region, Tom Burnet. Nor is it Terry Davis, former head of Foster’s wine division. The guy with the job is John Ballard who has been a director of Woolworths and chairman of Wattyl Limited and a director of CSR Limited since 1997. Mr Ballard will relinquish these directorships over the coming weeks and commence with Southcorp on April 28. He was also managing director of APD/Smith’s Snackfoods Company and managing director of United Biscuits, Asia Pacific, between 1986 to 1997. The other news concerns BRL Hardy Ltd, whose shareholders have approved the purchase offer from US-based Constellation Brands, which will acquire the shares in BRL Hardy at $A10.50 per share and see the cancellation of all options for a payment based on the share price of $10.50. A meeting held in Adelaide today was overwhelmingly in support of the deal. Final Supreme Court approval for the merger scheme is expected on 27 March 2003, with the deal expected to close early in April 2003. The combined wine operations of the two companies will create the world’s largest wine business with total annual sales of more than AUD$3 billion.
