Britvic suspends £75m share buyback following Carlsberg offer

Britvic announced on Tuesday that it was suspending its £75 million share buyback after rejecting a £3.1 billion takeover offer from a Danish brewer Carlsberg.

In a brief statement, the beverage company announced that it would suspend the buyback announced on June 3 at the close of trading on Tuesday.

“The board will consider resuming the program if circumstances change,” it said.

Britvic announced last week that it had rejected two offers from Carlsberg, one for 1,200 pence per share and another for 1,250 pence.

On Monday, Carlsberg said: PepsiCo had agreed to waive the change of control clause in its bottling agreements with Britvic, thereby removing a potential challenge to Carlsberg.

Responding to press speculation over the weekend, Carlsberg said: “This exemption will take effect when Carlsberg’s acquisition of Britvic, which is in line with the recommendation of Britvic’s board, is completed.”

Carlsberg said the company was reconsidering its position.

At 13:55 BST, Britvic shares were down 0.9% at 1,161 pence.