Scottish & Newcastle buys Caledonian

April 11, 2008: The Caledonian Brewing Company — famous for its Deuchars brand — has been bought by Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) in what will probably be its last deal before the Heineken takeover.

S&N purchased Caledonian's Edinburgh brewery in 2004 and, at the same time, took a 30% stake in the smaller brewer and an assurance of first refusal if it ever came on the market.

Caledonian boss Steven Crawley will stay on with the company, but founding Sandy Orr, Donald MacDonald and Denis Critchley-Salmonson are standing down.