Big acquisition will transform Molson

Article Excerpt

MOLSON COORS CANADA INC. (Toronto symbols TPX.A $133 and TPX.B $129; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 214.8 million; Market cap: $27.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 1.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.molson coors.com) is the world’s fourth-largest beer brewer by market cap. Its main brands include Molson Canadian, Coors Light and Carling. In response to slowing global beer sales, the company continues to cut costs and improve its efficiency. Much of this plan centres on MillerCoors —the 2008 merger of Molson’s U.S. brewing and bottling operations with those of rival SABMiller. Unique opportunity to expand Molson recently agreed to buy the 58% of MillerCoors it doesn’t already own. That’s because SABMiller has accepted a takeover offer from rival Anheuser-Busch InBev that will create the world’s largest brewer. To satisfy competition regulators, SABMiller will sell its stake in MillerCoors to Molson for $12.0 billion (all amounts except share prices and market cap in U.S. dollars). Thanks to…