Diageo to sell Ketel One in $900 million deal

My (spirits) world got rocked today at about 4pm when I learned that Ketel One is now going to be a Diageo brand...

The Nolet family (which owns Ketel One) and Diageo are forming a company and Diageo is paying $900,000,000 to be the exclusive worldwide distributor.

Usually we hear rumblings of upcoming sales, etc. but this one was just out of the blue...

Ketel One has always been the "little brand that could", only having two products, Ketel One U.S. and is pretty darn tatsy in my opinion. Now they are part of the biggest spirits company in the world. Part of me is worried that Ketel will lose the individiual feel it has, but on the other hand Diageo obviously knows what they are doing when it comes to marketing...

It will be interesting to watch for sure. Here's hoping that the Ketel One employees either retain their jobs or find something quickly.

It looks like Diageo decided not go for Absolut, which is being auctioned off by the Swedish Government, for six to seven billion dollars. I think its a good move - go for Ketel which still has a lot of room to grow, and only spend about 1/7th of what you would have on Absolut.

Now i'm interested to see who will get Absolut; Foturne Brands (Jim Beam), Pernod-Ricard (Kahlua) and Bacardi are all in the running....