The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry

The news follows last week’s announcement that Spendrups, the biggest Swedish-owned brewery, is succeeding Carlsberg as producer and distributor of Schweppes in Sweden. Spendrups has a stake in Hansa, along with Danish brewer Royal Unibrew.

Carlsberg has produced Schweppes in Scandinavia for more than 20 years, and in October 2005 negotiated a new multi-country licence agreement with brand owner Cadbury Schweppes of the UK (as it then was) to sell the drinks in five European markets: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Switzerland.

The new deal replaced existing agreements in individual markets. But within two months of the contract being signed, Cadbury sold its European soft drinks business – including Schweppes – to the private equity groups Lion Capital of London and Blackstone of New York for €1.85bn.

Multiple ownership

The Schweppes brand is now shared between various owners around the world. Cadbury had already sold Schweppes to The Coca-Cola Company in many non-European markets, while North American rights were among the assets spun off to create the Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the US earlier this year.

Lion and Blackstone meanwhile incorporated Schweppes in a new French-based soft drinks business, Orangina Schweppes, with rights in other European countries being controlled by Schweppes International, a subsidiary in the Netherlands.

One of the principal reasons for the change of Schweppes distribution in Sweden and Norway was apparently that Schweppes International and Carlsberg could not agree on future strategy for the brand.

The brand-owners want Schweppes to be developed as a line of refreshing non-alcoholic beverages in their own right, rather than simply as mixers with spirits.

However, Carlsberg will continue to distribute Schweppes in Denmark, as well as in Finland and Switzerland through its subsidiaries Sinebrychoff and Feldschlösschen.