G Heileman Brewing Co

Stroh to Acquire Colt 45 Brewer: Detroit-based Stroh Brewery solidified its position as the nation's No. 4 beer maker with its deal to buy struggling G. Heileman Brewing Co., which also makes Old Style and Lone Star beers. Analysts said the deal, which they estimated to be worth about $300 million, should help Stroh survive in the competitive and slow-growing beer market, dominated by giants Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Miller Brewing Co.

G. Heileman Brewing Co. announced late Wednesday that it will not market its controversial, high-powered malt liquor PowerMaster after the government stripped the brewer of its labeling rights for the product. The company, however, was granted four months to sell off its existing stocks of the brew. The Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms decided Wednesday that Heileman must stop using the PowerMaster label.

Stroh to Acquire Colt 45 Brewer: Detroit-based Stroh Brewery solidified its position as the nation's No. 4 beer maker with its deal to buy struggling G. Heileman Brewing Co., which also makes Old Style and Lone Star beers. Analysts said the deal, which they estimated to be worth about $300 million, should help Stroh survive in the competitive and slow-growing beer market, dominated by giants Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Miller Brewing Co.

G. Heileman Brewing Co. announced late Wednesday that it will not market its controversial, high-powered malt liquor PowerMaster after the government stripped the brewer of its labeling rights for the product. The company, however, was granted four months to sell off its existing stocks of the brew. The Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms decided Wednesday that Heileman must stop using the PowerMaster label.

The Wisconsin Assembly on Wednesday passed two anti-takeover measures designed to thwart a $1.01-billion bid by Australia's Bond Corp. Holdings Ltd.'s for G. Heileman Brewing Co., a La Crosse, Wis.-based brewer that is the nation's fourth largest. The two measures were later debated in the state Senate, where approval was expected late Wednesday, according to Senate majority leader Joseph Strohl.

Surgeon General Antonia C. Novello on Tuesday called on the marketer of a potent new malt liquor beverage named PowerMaster to change the product's name and scrap a sales campaign that appears targeted at minority consumers. PowerMaster is a high-alcohol drink that has drawn criticism from health and minority activists, who charge that its maker plans to promote it to poor blacks and Latinos. The product, made by the G. Heileman Brewing Co.

"The little guy has won again. I told them if they renamed it 'Gentle Lamb,' we'd still boycott it." --The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor at St. Sabina Church in Chicago, after G. Heileman Brewing Co. said it was dropping PowerMaster, a new high-alcohol malt liquor. Pfleger had warned that his group would boycott Heileman's Colt 45 Malt Liquor brand if the company marketed the new brew.

Surgeon General Antonia C. Novello on Tuesday called on the marketer of a potent new malt liquor beverage named PowerMaster to change the product's name and scrap a sales campaign that appears targeted at minority consumers. PowerMaster is a high-alcohol drink that has drawn criticism from health and minority activists, who charge that its maker plans to promote it to poor blacks and Latinos. The product, made by the G. Heileman Brewing Co.

The Wisconsin Assembly on Wednesday passed two anti-takeover measures designed to thwart a $1.01-billion bid by Australia's Bond Corp. Holdings Ltd.'s for G. Heileman Brewing Co., a La Crosse, Wis.-based brewer that is the nation's fourth largest. The two measures were later debated in the state Senate, where approval was expected late Wednesday, according to Senate majority leader Joseph Strohl.

The Milwaukee-based brewer said that it asked the court to clear the proposed $70-million acquisition of Pabst by G. Heileman Brewing Co. The proposal currently is being challenged on antitrust grounds by two other brewers, Stroh Brewery Co. of Detroit and Christian Schmidt Brewing Co. of Philadelphia. Specifically, Pabst's petition seeks to lift a lower court's injunction that blocks the acquisition pending a hearing on the Stroh-Schmidt lawsuit.

A spokesman for Australia's troubled Bond Corp. Holdings Ltd. said the company is willing to hear from Jeff Reynolds, a Los Angeles businessman who announced that he wanted to take control of the Australian company. Bond Corp. executive Peter Lucas said the company "looked forward to the next communication" from Reynolds. Reynolds, 28, announced that he was prepared to invest $250 million in Bond Corp.