Dive Brief:
- Diageo Plc has announced it will expand its Plainfield, IL, bottling facility, the company's largest manufacturing facility in North America.
- This comes on the heels of another announcement that Diageo would close its bottling facility in Relay, MD.
- After a report of a potential buyout of Diageo by 3G Capital, speculation is surfacing that Diageo's beer portfolio could be a major reason for an acquisition, especially when Diageo's beers, including Guinness and Harp, could work well with the beer portfolio of Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Dive Insight:
Whether such a takeover would actually go through is debatable, as Diageo and 3G seem to be on somewhat different paths. Spirits companies tend to focus on driving revenue, whereas 3G tends to have companies improve their margins to increase profitability.