Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group is selling a number of fine cut and pipe tobacco brands to Philip Morris International (PMI) for EUR 254 million (USD

April 23, 2008 - Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group is selling a number of fine cut and pipe tobacco brands to Philip Morris International (PMI) for EUR 254 million (USD 406 million).. The European Commission on October 18, 2007 announced its decision to approve Imperial Tobacco Group PLC’s proposed acquisition of Altadis, S.A. (Alliance Tobacco Distributors) The acquisition of Altadis was subject to the enlarged group divesting a small number of fine cut tobacco, pipe tobacco and cigar brands in certain European markets. In 2007, the acquired brands accounted for an approximate 2% share of the total fine-cut category in PMI’s EU Region and Interval, a strong French heritage brand with a high quality blend, was the leading fine-cut brand in the French market with a 14.8% share of the category. Other brands included in the agreement are the fine-cut brands Bergerac, Santoya and Wervicq (France), Van Nelle (Italy and Canary Islands) and Picadura (Spain) and the pipe tobacco brands Bergerac (France) and Kilta (Finland). The transaction is subject to approval by the European Commission and certain local regulatory agencies and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2008. (Tobacco cuts: fine cut - tobacco comes in granules slightly larger than sand or coffee grounds; mid-cut - comparable to small granules about 1mm cubed and long cut - comes in thin strands of tobacco around 7mm long, (Dipping Tobacco) e.g., Marlboro MST (moist smokeless tobacco) available from Philip Morris USA comes in long cut and fine cut tobacco. Fine-cut tobacco is popular for roll-your-own cigarettes accounting for two-thirds of the total cigarette market in Norway (MMWR,June 08, 1984 / 33(22);320-3). PMI is testing a roll-your-own (RYO) device called the "Tobacco Block System" in Germany. RYO tobacco taxed at significantly less rate than cigarettes.)

Some Imperial Tobacco Group news briefs: March 20, 2008, March 4, 2008; Imperial Tobacco successfully concludes acquisition of Altadis.. and November 21, 2007. (TobacoWatch.org)