December 14, 2001 -- The jury is still out on which brewery will ultimately win the bidding race to buy England's Carling brand from the Belgian beer giant, Interbrew, but it won't be Carlsberg. According to a Reuters story dated December 12, the Danish brewer Carlsberg Breweries has all but ruled out an acquisition of England's best-selling lager, Carling.

Stating that the brewer's British unit, Carlsberg-Tetley, is running profitably, Carlsberg A/S Chief Executive Joern Jensen said that the company wishes to increase their market share from the current 12 percent to 20 percent in terms of volume in order to increase earnings. "But it is unlikely to happen via an acquisition of Carling as it will probably not be approved by the British competition authorities," he said.

Belgian Interbrew must sell Carling, with a market share of 19 percent, to satisfy competition concerns after the Belgian brewer last year bought Bass Brewers and Whitbread.

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