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Foster's wine split on the cards.
24 May, 2010 10:11am

FOSTER'S Group's ailing wine division has long been viewed as a poison pill for a bidder for the beer business.

But now that Foster's has a market value of $9.9 billion and the Australian dollar has helpfully fallen from recent highs some think the timing could be ripe for a global brewer to bid for its beer division, reports The Australian Financial Review.

A full-priced bid for beer could place the Foster's board in an interesting position, given its reluctance to spin off the wine division. In effect, it could force the board into an early demerger that would give shareholders cash for the beer business and leave them with a pro-rata share of wine.

The inventory alone in the wine business is said to have quite a bit of value beyond its book value. For example, Grange is booked at the production cost (around $20 a bottle), even though it sells at huge mark-ups.