Material contracts
Agreement for the acquisition of the Seagram spirits and wine businesses On 19 December 2000, Diageo and Pernod Ricard SA entered into a stock and asset purchase agreement (the SAPA) with Vivendi Universal SA, whereby Pernod Ricard and Diageo agreed to acquire stock and assets of the worldwide spirits, wines, wine and malt coolers, other malt beverages, fortified wines, non-alcoholic mixers and other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages business of The Seagram Company Limited. The acquisition was completed on 21 December 2001.
The acquisition consideration, under the SAPA, was $8.15 billion (£5.62 billion) in cash, subject to a number of adjustments. Diageo’s share of the purchase price, after adjustment, was £3.7 billion. The terms of the bidding and acquisition arrangements between Pernod Ricard and Diageo for the Seagram acquisition were governed by the Framework Implementation Agreement, a formal agreement entered into on 4 December 2000 which was subsequently amended and restated (the FIA). The FIA set out (amongst other things) principles governing the split of the Seagram spirits and wine businesses, the integration process for the business and the interim management of the non-core businesses. The FIA was terminated by the execution of a further agreement on 21 December 2002 which was subsequently amended and supplemented (the SOFIA) although this termination is without prejudice to any prior breaches of the FIA. Under the SOFIA, all material assets that were jointly acquired by Pernod Ricard and Diageo from Vivendi Universal are allocated between Diageo and Pernod Ricard. A number of the provisions of the FIA have been carried forward into the SOFIA in modified form. These include provisions relating to the parties’ responsibility for liabilities incurred by or in connection with the various businesses acquired under the SAPA including for the sharing of certain liabilities between the parties. Where liability is to be shared between Diageo and Pernod Ricard, this is generally on the basis of the same 60.9/39.1 ratio adopted for the FIA (subject to, amongst other things, de minimis limitations that limit the ability of one party to recover from the other in certain cases and to detailed conduct of claims provisions). The SOFIA also provides for the settlement of various historic and ongoing claims between the parties under the FIA and for the settlement of various costs and expenses (including future costs and expenses). In addition, the SOFIA provides the basis for the management of the remaining jointly-owned businesses including for their future restructuring and/or liquidation.