SABMiller

From SourceWatch
(Redirected from Miller Brewing)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Tobaccospin.jpg

This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

In October 2007, Molson Coors and SABMiller announced that they are merging their U.S. operations, to form MillerCoors.[1] SABMiller was the world's number three beer maker behind InBev and Anheuser-Busch. Its name came from the 2002 purchase by SAB (South African Breweries) of Miller Brewing. The company has operations in over 60 countries. It dominates beer sales in Africa with its brand Castle Lager. SABMiller also produces wine, liquor, and fruit drinks and bottles Coca-Cola products. Altria Group previously owned Miller Brewing and currently owns about 30% of SABMiller.[2]

The company has over 150 brands, some international and some local. Brands include Peroni Nastro Azzurro brewed in Italy, Carling Black Label, Lech, Snow, Pilsner Urquell, and Miller Beer. [3]

Violation Tracker
Discover Which Corporations are the Biggest Violators of Environmental, Health and Safety Laws in the United States
Violation Tracker is the first national search engine on corporate misconduct covering environmental, health, and safety cases initiated by 13 federal regulatory agencies. Violation Tracker is produced by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. Click here to access Violation Tracker.

Tobacco involvement

Miller Brewing was a unit of Philip Morris Co., circa 1994 (WSJ 5/31/94).

Miller Beer, sometimes known simply by the initials "MGD" (an acronym for Miller Genuine Draft) has large-scale operations based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Miller was a subsidiary of the Philip Morris (PM) tobacco company. Philip Morris (now Altria Group) bought Miller Beer on June 12, 1969 from the W.R. Grace chemical company for $130 million and still maintains an interest in the company. [1]

PM used its food and drink subsidiaries to help advance several corporate goals: 1) to help escape the stigma of being a cigarette manufacturer, 2) to allow the company continue to exert financial influence in places where donations, advertising or sponsorship from a tobacco company would be rejected, 3) to help the company generate clandestine grassroots pressure to oppose tobacco-related public health measures (for example, by pressuring the management and employees of food and drink subsidiaries to participate in phone banks and letter-writing campaigns) and to allow the company to portray itself publicly and to stockholders as "more than just a tobacco company." [2] page two

Political contributions

Miller Brewing gave $112,000 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 33% to Democrats and 67% to Republicans. [4]

Lobbying

The company spent $674,024 for lobbying in 2006. Two lobbying firms as well as in-house lobbyists were used.. [5]

Board

Accessed September 2012: [6]

Personnel

Key people: [7]

Selected board members: [8]

Contact details

1 Stanhope Gate
London
W1K1AF, United Kingdom
Phone: +44-20-7659-0100
Fax: +44-20-7659-0111
Web: http://www.sabmiller.com

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

References

  1. Emily Fredrix, Coors/SABMiller to Combine US Operations, Washington Post, accessed February 2008.
  2. SABMiller Profile, Hoovers, accessed August 2007.
  3. Brands, SABMiller, accessed August 2007.
  4. 2006 PAC Summary Data, Open Secrets, accessed August 2007.
  5. SABMiller lobbying expenses, Open Secrets.
  6. SABMiller Board, organizational web page, accessed September 24, 2012.
  7. SABMiller Key People, Hoovers, accessed August 2007.
  8. Board of Directors, SABMiller, accessed August 2007.

<tdo>resource_id=6856 resource_code=miller_brewing search_term=Miller Brewing Co.</tdo>