Brown-Forman Corp: Brown Family Cuts Sazerac Off After Double Shot at Acquisition

Research evidence excerpt

Brown-Forman Corp: Brown Family Cuts Sazerac Off After Double Shot at Acquisition

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

26 July 2026

Brown-Forman Corp Underweight

BFb, BF/B US

Brown Family Cuts Sazerac Off After Double Shot at Price (24 Jul 26):$26.08

Acquisition

Beverage, Household & Personal

On Sunday evening, Brown-Forman’s (BF/B, Underweight) Board of Care Products

Directors issued a statement (link) that it had determined that, taking into Drew Levine, CFA AC

consideration Wolf Pen Branch’s view (Brown family shareholders representing (1-212) 622-0374

majority of Class A voting shares), an unsolicited takeover proposal received drew.levine@jpmorgan.com

from Sazerac (private) is “not actionable,” with Wolf Pen Branch stating “we are Andrea Teixeira, CFA

confident in the strength and competitive position of the business, and believe the (1-212) 622-6735

andrea.f.teixeira@jpmorgan.com

company is well-positioned to deliver long-term value for all shareholders. We

Shovana Chowdhury

have concluded that Sazerac’s proposal does not align with this vision for

(1-212) 270-2184

Brown-Forman’s future.” A WSJ report (link) suggests that the renewed effort shovana.chowdhury@jpmorgan.com

from Sazerac, following its first approach on May 1 (which BF did not publicly J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

comment on), was for the same $32 per share in cash, but that it “stands ready to

improve terms” of the offer if BF’s Board engages in discussions, which to this

point have not been substantive, according to the report.

• As we’ve said previously, while we believe a deal with Sazerac would be

digestible for the acquirer (reports suggest proposal would allow BF

shareholders to roll over equity into NewCo and that Sazerac’s cash bid has