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LETTERS 

• Burnett to Tout PM's New Name 

More than a year after saying it plans to rename itself Altria, Philip Morris will launch a campaign in late January to herald the new name. The tagline: "Where people and performance make a difference." . .

Creative by Leo Burnett in Chicago is in development; it will focus on why PM is changing its name and what Altria stands for. While critics contend PM is trying to throw a cloak over its cigarette-manufacturing legacy, corporate executives say Altria is a better vehicle for building an identity as a diversified consumer-products company.

The goal of Burnett's campaign is to let consumers know that Altria is the holding company for Kraft, PM USA and PM International, and that those entities will not change their names. The spots will be unlike PM's previous corporate-image effort, which showed PM employees bringing water to flood victims and aid to war refugees. That effort backfired when activists publicized that PM spent more money--$80 million during 2001, according to CMR--on promoting its good works than on actual assistance.

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Beer actors: Tastes great, quite filling 

There are three rules for starring in a Miller Lite ''reality'' TV ad: No swearing. No smoking.

No getting drunk.

''It's like being in high school,'' ad co-director Nate Crooker said as a joke.

The whole point is to get people to drink beer.

Crooker and his partner, Brian Jackson, prepped ''spokesdrinker'' Joe Swisher Friday night for the reality ad that will air for two weeks in October. The ad makers will follow Swisher, 25, and friends Josh Kramer and Phil Crowhurst tonight as they hit the town and drink Miller Lite.

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Kraft backs earlier Nabisco synergy targets 

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE:KFT), the largest North American food company, on Wednesday backed its earlier projections for cost savings from its integration of cookie and cracker maker Nabisco.

Kraft said its sees 2002 savings of roughly $300 million from the addition of Nabisco, which it purchased in late 2000. The company also backed prior annual savings forecasts of $600 million once the Nabisco integration has been completed.

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Kraft Foods Offers Sour Candies for Adult Consumers, WSJ Says 

Kraft Foods Inc.'s Callard & Bowser-Suchard unit plans to target adult consumers by adding tangerine- and citrus-flavored hard candies to its line of Altoids confections, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The food company, which is 84 percent owned by Philip Morris Cos., started selling the new flavors in May and June, the Journal said. This marks a move into a new category, as the Tangerine and Citrus Altoids are hard candies and not mints, the paper said.

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Philip Morris agrees to protect Miller employee pensions 

WASHINGTON (July 10, 2002 2:12 p.m. EDT) - The federal government has reached an agreement with Philip Morris Cos. to protect retirement benefits for more than 9,500 workers at its subsidiary Miller Brewing Co., which is being sold to London-based South African Breweries.

Miller Brewing's pension obligations are underfunded by about $150 million, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. estimated Wednesday. The corporation is the government's insurance program for private workers' pensions.

Philip Morris has agreed to make up the shortfall in case the money is needed to cover benefits promised to Miller Brewing workers and retirees.

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Philip Morris, US Agency In Deal On Miller Brewing Pension 

Philip Morris Cos. reached an agreement Wednesday with the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to ensure the retirement benefits of more than 9, 500 employees of the company's Miller Brewing Co . subsidiary.

London -based South African Breweries is buying Miller Brewing.

PBGC estimates that Miller Brewing's pension obligations are underfunded by about $150 million. Under the agreement, Philip Morris guarantees that it will make up the difference in case the money is needed to cover the pension benefits promised to Miller Brewing workers and retirees. The company has the option to replace its guarantee with a letter of credit the PBGC can use to secure the required payments.

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Philip Morris to cover Miller workers' benefits 

Philip Morris Cos. Inc. (NYSE:MO) has agreed to cover more than $150 million in pension benefits if needed for thousands of workers at its Miller Brewing Co. unit, which was sold to South African Breweries, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said on Wednesday.

Miller Brewing's pension obligations are underfunded by more than $150 million according to the government agency, and the agreement struck with Philip Morris guarantees the tobacco giant will cover that shortfall.

"Philip Morris's financial commitment will help safeguard the pension security of Miller Brewing workers and retirees, " Steven Kandarian, executive director of the PBGC, said in a statement.

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Philip Morris Companies Inc. Announces Closing of SABMiller plc Transaction 

Philip Morris Companies Inc. (NYSE:MO) announced today that the transaction announced on May 30, 2002, to merge Miller Brewing Company into South African Breweries plc, forming the world's second-largest brewer, SABMiller plc, has closed.

Philip Morris Companies Inc. received 430, 000, 000 shares in SABMiller plc valued at $3.38 billion, based on the July 8 closing price, representing a 36% economic interest and a 24.9% voting interest in the enlarged group, without giving effect to the contemplated equity placing by SABMiller plc.

In addition, as previously announced, the assumption of $2 billion of Miller Brewing Company's debt by SABMiller plc will result in cash flow of approximately $1.7 billion for Philip Morris Companies Inc., which will be used to accelerate its share repurchase program in 2002. The company has said previously that it expects to repurchase a total of approximately $6.0 billion of its shares for the full-year 2002.

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South African Breweries Completes Acquisition of Miller Brewing  

South African Breweries Plc said it completed the $5.6 billion acquisition of Miller Brewing Co. from Philip Morris Cos. after gaining shareholder approval and regulatory clearances.

The London-based brewer paid the world's biggest tobacco company with 430 million new shares of South African Breweries, which has been renamed SABMiller. The company also assumed $2 billion in debt.

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AB Says Miller Deal Complete 

South African Breweries said on Tuesday that its takeover of Miller Brewing to create the world's second largest brewer has been completed.

"Miller has now become a wholly owned subsidiary of SAB, " the company said in a statement.

The name of the new entity is SABMiller, which will continue to be listed in both London and Johannesburg.

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BEER GIANT SAB WINS APPROVAL FOR MILLER ACQUISITION 

BOSTON (AdAge.com) -- The long-awaited union of Miller Brewing Co. and South African Breweries moved ahead today following the deal's approval by SAB shareholders as well as clearance by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The deal could close as early as July 10...

Talk of a sale had been rumored for months. Onlookers say Miller's moribund plight might improve with ownership by a brewer rather than tobacco and food behemoth Philip Morris, though PM had been trying to change Miller's fortunes for the past decade.

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SAB votes for Miller deal, completion nears 

LONDON, July 1 (Reuters) - Shareholders in South African Breweries Plc (SABJ.J) on Monday voted to approve its takeover of Miller Brewing to create the world's second-largest brewer, and completion of the deal is now expected by July 10...

In the deal announced in late May, SAB agreed to pay $3.6 billion with 430 million shares to Miller's owner Philip Morris and take on $2 billion in debt, giving the Marlboro cigarette maker and Kraft foods group 36 percent of SABMiller.

An SAB spokesman said the deal is anticipated to be completed by July 10 once approvals have been received from all regulatory authorities. Final approvals are awaited from a few countries such as Poland and Austria, but no major hurdles are anticipated.

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Smoke signals 

Warren Buffett, who usually says most things best, said it best. The ideal product, Buffett once opined, costs pennies to make, sells for dollars and is addictive.

Tobacco, he revealed, fits the bill but not for the legendary stock picker of Omaha. Warren Buffett will not buy tobacco stock. There is, as all the world knows, a very dark side to the tobacco business. Indeed, it seems to pile up troubles (and profits) as the smoke floats upward.

To take just one example, I doubt if Laurence Tisch is particularly happy with his purchase years ago of Lorillard, the home of Kent with the micronite filter. Sure, he has to pay a settlement; everybody does. But there's a dirty little secret at Lorillard.

For a brief, but not brief enough, time in the 1950s, Kent's miracle filter was made of the deadliest form of asbestos known to man. In other words, Kent's customers were breathing their cancer-causing smoke through a filter made from a dangerous carcinogen. Bummer. And one of America's most penny-pinching plutocrats owns the place now.

Because I not only know this but filed and printed a story on it, lawyers occasionally call me. . .

As Buffett noted, manufacturing the things costs next to nothing in Philip Morris' state-of the-art plants. Distributing the things is a snap; they're tiny. And every four or five years, you get to buy any company, manufacturing anything you want, without breaking into a sweat to do it.

A few years ago, Philip Morris bought Kraft. . .

Now the first of a possible two shoes has dropped. Philip Morris, in a first seeming step to get out of the sin business, is about to sell Miller Brewing to the South Africans. . .

Now the waiting game begins again. What will Philip Morris buy next? I don't know, but here's a good guess: more food.

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Philip Morris would get dlrs 160 million if SAB backed out of Miller deal 

Philip Morris Cos. would receive a breakup fee of dlrs 160 million if South African Breweries PLC backed out of its deal to buy Philip Morris' Miller Brewing Co. unit, a regulatory filing said Tuesday.

The agreement, announced late last month, will terminate automatically if the deal isn't completed by Jan. 31, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The dlrs 3.6 billion stock deal is expected to close in July.

The transaction, which also calls for debt assumption of dlrs 2 billion, would make South African Breweries the second-largest brewer in the world behind Anheuser-Busch Cos.

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