Brewer agrees £7.8bn takeover bid

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The European suitors, who have been pursuing Edinburgh-based S&N since October, plan to carve up the business when the deal is completed.

The move is set to call time on more than 250 years for the brewer, which also makes Kronenbourg 1664 and Newcastle Brown Ale.

The group currently has about 3,300 staff in the UK, with breweries in Manchester, Reading, Dunston near Newcastle, and Tadcaster, in North Yorkshire.

The company also owns the Bulmers cider mill in Hereford and has administrative staff in Edinburgh and Staines, Middlesex.

S&N, which also makes John Smith's, has grown to become the world's seventh largest brewer by sales volume since the original William Younger brewery was established in Leith, Edinburgh back in 1749.

William Younger merged with fellow Edinburgh brewer William McEwan to form Scottish Brewers in 1913, before merging with Newcastle Breweries in 1960 to become Scottish & Newcastle.

Heineken, which will take control of S&N's UK operations, would not comment on potential job losses at the company. The Dutch company currently has no brewing operations in this country.

The deal will also net £218 million for Blackpool Tower owner and leisure tycoon Trevor Hemmings, who sold holiday camp chain Pontins to Scottish & Newcastle in 1989 in return for a stake in the brewer.

Mr Hemmings, who also owns 2005 Grand National winner Hedgehunter, bought Pontins back from S&N in 2000, but retains a 2.8% stake in the Edinburgh-based brewer.