January 14/Osaka, Japan, and Deerfield, Ill./ Press Release-- Suntory Holdings Limited and Beam Inc. jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Suntory will acquire all outstanding shares of Beam for US$83.50 per share in cash or total consideration of approximately US$16 billion, including the assumption of Beam’s outstanding net debt.

Diageo plans to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.55 billion) over the next five years to boost its production of Scotch whisky as demand continues to grow.