CONSTELLATION BRANDS
US beer maker’s Canadian weed deal on a high
Bengaluru — Constellation Brands, the maker of Corona beer, will invest another $4bn in Canada’s top cannabis producer, Canopy Growth, doubling down on one of a growing number of bets by the alcohol industry on legal pot. Constellation was among the first major alcohol producers to invest in marijuana production when it pumped nearly $200m into Canopy last year but the latest notice makes it the biggest investment in the industry. Canada, where 4.4-million people reported using the drug in the first half of the year, will fully legalise the recreational use of cannabis in October. Constellation, Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch are using the move by the US’s northern neighbour to hedge their bets for the future at a time when beer sales, roughly 60% of Constellation’s sales, are stagnating, particularly with the young. Constellation will buy 104.5-million Canopy shares at C$48.60 ($37.12) per share, a 51.2% premium to the stock’s Tuesday closing price. The deal will take Constellatio...
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