Beam Completes Acquisition of Pinnacle Vodka

Pinnacle Vodka, the fourth largest imported vodka brand in the United States, will significantly enhance Beam's presence in the large and growing vodka category.

4 June 2012 --- Beam Inc., a leading global premium spirits company, announced that it has completed the acquisition of the fast-growing Pinnacle Vodka and Calico Jack rum brands from privately-held White Rock Distilleries. The purchase price was $605 million in cash, financed principally by the company's recent bond issuance at attractive rates.

Pinnacle Vodka, the fourth largest imported vodka brand in the United States, will significantly enhance Beam's presence in the large and growing vodka category. Pinnacle was the world's fastest growing major premium spirits brand in 2011, according to Impact, which named both Pinnacle and Calico Jack to its list of 2011 Hot Brands. With a track record of very strong double-digit growth for its flavored and unflavored variants, sales of Pinnacle are expected to surpass three million cases in 2012.

"Vodka is by far the largest spirits category in the U.S., and Pinnacle is a strongly differentiated premium brand that sits at the heart of the category's current and future growth," said Matt Shattock, president and chief executive officer of Beam. "We look forward to leveraging our scale and skills in brand building, distribution management and supply chain to take Pinnacle to the next level. We also see the opportunity to create value through this bolt-on acquisition's hard cost synergies that we're confident will exceed 20% of the brands' net sales. We anticipate a smooth integration of these brands, and we're ready to hit the ground running."

As previously announced, the company expects the acquisition to be approximately earnings neutral in 2012, accretive by 5-10 cents per diluted share in 2013, and increasingly accretive in 2014 and beyond.

Pinnacle Vodka joins the ranks of Beam's Power Brands, which include Jim Beam and Maker's Mark Bourbon, Sauza Tequila, Courvoisier Cognac, Canadian Club Whisky and Teacher's Scotch.