Sazerac Enters Fray, Offers To Buy Brown-Forman

Three weeks ago, drinks corporations Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard confirmed that the two companies were in merger negotiations. Late yesterday, Sazerac inserted themselves into that business by announcing they wish to buy Brown-Forman, offering $32/share for the company or approximately $15 billion.

Brown-Forman stock closed at $29.21/share on Tuesday, April 14th, the last full trading day before any news of the offer became public. Although Brown-Forman stock had been declining in recent times, due in large part to shaky sales reports for its premier brand Jack Daniel’s, the price has risen by 25% since merger talks with Pernod Ricard were made public. At time of writing on, less than one hour into Thursday trading, the share price has already risen by almost 1%.

Although Brown-Forman is a publicly traded company, the Brown family owns a majority of all stock and a dominant majority of the key Class A voting stock. That makes a hostile takeover of the company impossible. According to analysts, the Pernod-Ricard merger would give the Brown family at least a large degree of control over at least some of the parts that had been Brown-Forman. The more traditional buy-out offer made by Sazerac would prove more generous financially and in the immediate sense, but likely not as generous in terms of a future role for the Browns in the company.

In some respects, these events are reminiscent of when the Browns bought Jack Daniel’s from the Motlow family. The highest bidder for Jack Daniel’s was Schenley Industries, but the Browns were a family company, made promises to the Motlows regarding how Jack Daniel’s would be run, and were better trusted by the Motlows to keep them.

The merger with Pernod Ricard also makes more business sense for both companies, at least from a public view. Depending on how one measures it, the French conglomerate is either the world’s second or third largest drinks company, but it is relatively weak in the North American production category. Brown-Forman is a major drinks company, but medium-sized compared to the true goliaths; it is strong where Pernod Ricard is weak, and visa versa. The two portfolios would compliment each other well.

Sazerac is a privately owned company. In contrast to Pernod Ricard, its holdings are similar to those of Brown-Forman. Although the own brands and production plants around the world, making tequila, rum, vodka, cognac, Indian and Irish whiskeys among others, their core holdings are Buffalo Trace and Barton 1792 in Kentucky, plus Fireball, A. Smith Bowman in Virginia, some Canadian whisky brands, and even a new Tennessee Whiskey distillery, AJ Bond. Both Brown-Forman and Sazerac have a large footprint in North American whiskey-making.

Another feature of the three companies is size. Sazerac is believed to generate $3 billion in revenue. Brown-Forman is actually substantially larger, reporting $5.37 billion in revenue in 2025. Pernod Ricard dwarfs both companies combined, reporting €12.75 billion in revenue in 2024.