Foster's Group

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Foster's Group Limited

Type	Public (ASX:FGL)
Founded	1887
Headquarters	Melbourne, Australia
Key people	David Crawford, Chairman Trevor O'Hoy, CEO
Industry	Beverages
Products	Victoria Bitter Fosters Lager Jamieson's Run Wines Wolf Blass Wines Strongbow Cider
Revenue	$3.9 billion AUD (2004)
Employees	35,000 (2004)
Website	www.fosters.com.au

Foster's Group is a beer group with interests in brewing, wine-making and soft drinks. Foster's Group is the brewer of the Foster's Lager. Foster's Group Limited is a publicly-listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange and is based in Melbourne, Victoria. Its wine division Beringer Blass is the 7th largest producer of wine in the United States.^[1] Its current CEO Trevor O'Hoy, resigned on the 10th June 2008 after poor performance by the wine division of the group.^[2]

1 History
2 Business
3 Operating companies
4 Beer brands
5 Wine brands
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

It was founded in Melbourne in 1886 by two American brothers, William and Ralph Foster of New York, who happened to own a refrigeration plant, which was necessary to brew beer in Australia's hot climate. They sold the brewery the following year and returned to the United States^{[citation needed]}.

In 1983, Carlton and United Breweries purchased Elders IXL, a giant Australian diversified conglomerate, and was renamed the Elders Brewing Group. Then in 1990, the Elders Brewing Group changed its name to the Foster's Group, to reflect the name of their most internationally recognised product.

In 2005, Foster's Group acquired the Australian wine-making group Southcorp. This acquisition added famous brands such as Penfolds, Lindemans and Rosemount to the Foster's stable and around $1 billion AUD to revenues.

[edit] Business

In 1990, Asahi Breweries acquired a 19.9% stake in Australian brewery giant Elders IXL which later became Foster' s Group.

Foster's Group imports, licenses, and distributes a large number of brands. In Australia, Foster's distributes the Asahi Super Dry, Cinzano, Corona, Kronenbourg 1664, Perrier, Skyy vodka, Stella Artois, and 42 Below import brands among many others. While in the United States and Canadian markets, Molson brews and sells Foster's Lager under license.