Report: Miller Beer may merge, aiming at No. 1 brewer spot

MILWAUKEE - Miller Brewing Co. is reportedly discussing a merger with a pair of United Kingdom-based breweries and could announce a deal as early as March. <br> <br> The new company would combine Miller, Edinburgh-based Scottish & Newcastle PLC and London-based South African Breweries PLC, overtaking Anheuser-Busch to become the world&#39;s largest brewer, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in Sunday&#39;s editions. <br> <br> The deal would keep Miller&#39;s headquarters in Milwaukee and its 1,000 jobs, industry analysts said. <br> <br> Miller&#39;s parent company, Philip Morris Cos., and both brewers have not reached a final agreement, the newspaper reported. <br> <br> Calls to Miller by The Associated Press Sunday weren&#39;t immediately returned. <br> <br> The Financial Times of London reported in November of a possible merger of Miller, Scottish & Newcastle and South African Breweries. Representatives of all three companies have declined to comment on the reports. <br> <br> Philip Morris would keep about 20 percent ownership of the new company, with Scottish & Newcastle and South African Breweries owning the remainder under the plan, the Journal Sentinel reported, citing an anonymous source. <br> <br> Such a merger would give Scottish & Newcastle and South African Breweries a bigger foothold in the United States, said Mark Rodman, who owns Beverage Distribution Consultants, of Swampscott, Mass. <br> <br> Miller, the world&#39;s sixth-largest brewer, has a majority of its sales in the United States, where it has a 20 percent market share. The company&#39;s sales volume declined by 2.7 percent in 2001, after a 4 percent drop in 2000. <br> <br> Scottish & Newcastle is the world&#39;s seventh-largest brewer, and South African Breweries is the world&#39;s fifth-largest brewer. <br> <br>

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