Imperial Tobacco Gets Approval to Sell Brands in U.S..

November 21, 2007 - Imperial Tobacco Gets Approval to Sell Brands in U.S.. Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, won approval to introduce its European brands (e.g., Davidoff, West, Lambert & Butler - the UK's best selling brand, Richmond, Superkings, Embassy, Regal, Excellence )the U.S., the industry's most profitable market. The Bristol, England-based company said today it joined the Master Settlement Agreement, an accord between cigarette makers that restricts advertising and is a prerequisite to selling tobacco in the U.S. Imperial will start selling brands such as Davidoff in the U.S. within weeks. Imperial this year became the first foreign competitor for Altria Group Inc. and Reynolds American Inc. in their home market in a decade. Imperial already sells cigarettes locally through Commonwealth Brands (4th fourth largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States (e.g., USA Gold, Montclair, Malibu), which it bought in April for $1.9 billion, and will get the biggest U.S. cigar business when it completes the purchase of Spain's Altadis (Alliance Tobacco Distributors) SA next year.(10/18/2007—The European Commission approved Imperial Tobacco Group’s proposed acquisition of Altadis. Imperial Tobacco in September 2005 purchased a 43.5% interest in Swedish company Skruf Snus AB. - Tobacco_Watch.org)