Product details

Diageo plc, a company that itself was formed in 1997 from the merger of Guiness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc, is best known for its leading drinks brands such as Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, Guiness beer, Smirnoff vodka and Tanqueray and Gordon’s gins. In May 2008, it launched a project to increase its presence in emerging markets. This led to a number of acquisitions, including Mey Icki in Turkey in 2011, Meta Abo Brewery in Ethopia in 2012 and Ypioca in Brazil in 2012. This case looks at the background to these acquisitions and provides further details about each of those three deals, including comments and quotes from the Diageo and local business managers involved in each deal, as well as from the corporate development team leading the acquisition process from the London headquarters. The case ends with the question in 2014 about whether Diageo should continue to expand through acquisition in emerging markets, now that the company had almost reached its target of earning 50% of its global revenues from those markets. This case was written with the support of Diageo.