Jump to full article: New York Times, 2002-05-31
Author: SHERRI DAY
Intro: After agreeing to sell the Miller Brewing Company to South African Breweries yesterday, Louis C. Camilleri, the president and chief executive of the Philip Morris Companies, told analysts that the deal would allow Philip Morris to focus on its core food and tobacco businesses.
But with Philip Morris already the owner of the country's largest tobacco company and the No. 1 food concern, Mr. Camilleri's comments fueled speculation about how and where the company plans to expand in the future. The answer, according to many people close to the company, is to seek new business outside the United States.
"It's going to be going out and looking to make acquisitions," said Marc Cohen, a tobacco and beverage industry analyst at Goldman, Sachs. "The question is what kind of returns is it going to get as it does that?" . .
Growth in the Philip Morris tobacco business is likely to come through exploring the privatization of national tobacco companies in countries where the government owns and controls the industry, analysts said.
"They played this beautifully," Robert Campagnino, a senior tobacco analyst at Prudential Securities, said. "They have a number of options. What this transaction gave them was flexibility."
A spokeswoman at Philip Morris said the company was interested in pursuing food and tobacco opportunities both in the United States and abroad.
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