If it ain’t broke….

If you’d a spare €20 billion or so to spare you could have got in the way of AB InBev’s recent purchase of the rest of Corona-owner Grupo Modelo that it doesn’t already own.

AB InBev’s purchase, likely to be rubber-stamped by the US, Mexican and other governments, begs the question, what will happen to Corona distributors in the 178 countries outside the US and Mexico – such as Ireland?

AB InBev works through Diageo and C&C in this part of town, so it’s not as if it hasn’t plenty of choice for what to do with Corona – but hold off a min though, if it ain’t broke…. With all due respect to D and C&C, could Corona really expect to find a place of prestige among the ranks in the portfolios of giants like Diageo or the C&C Group that have so many other brands in their priority portfolio?

Here, the brand is distributed by Cork-based Barry & Fitzwilliam. Since taking Corona on in 1990 the company has managed to pump-up Corona to the point where it enjoys the highest per capita sales figure in Europe. Last year B&F – and B&F alone – was given the prestigious task of rolling out Corona Light ahead of the rest of Europe.

At the launch some heavy-hitters from Grupo Modelo arrived in Dublin to witness for themselves how B&F favours its fortunes – and they were not disappointed as they continued on to their only other stop outside Mexico, Australia.

So, like I said, if it ain’t broke….. In fact with a track record like this, if I was Michael Barry I might even be casting lascivious glances in the direction of brands Beck’s and Stella…