Lion Nathan is an Australasian premium alcoholic beverages company with operations in Australia and New Zealand. Beginning as New Zealand Breweries in 1914 and developing into one of New Zealand's largest corporate companies by the late 1980s, Lion Nathan became an Australasian business when it established a major presence in Australia in October 1990 after the company secured management control of Bond Corporation’s brewing assets. Since then Lion Nathan has expanded its operations to include the South Australian Brewing Company and several premium wineries and is now a leading brewer, winemaker and marketer of alcohol in the Australasian and international markets.

Lion Nathan employs over 1800 Australians and 1400 New Zealanders, has a market capitalisation in excess of $4 billion and is an ASX Top 100 company. Every year, Lion Nathan collects and pays over $700,000,000 in taxes and excises for the Australian Commonwealth and over $255,000,000 for the New Zealand Government.

In Australia, the company owns the following brewing operations:

• Tooheys and The Malt Shovel Brewery in NSW
• Castlemaine Perkins in Queensland
• The Swan Brewery in Western Australia
• The South Australian Brewing Company

In addition, the company has sales operations in Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

In New Zealand, the company operates five breweries in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Wellington. Other New Zealand business units include Liquor King (a liquor retail chain of 44 stores), Maltexo and the Contract Bottling Company.

In Australia, Lion Nathan’s share of the beer market averaged over 42 per cent for the 12 months to May 2006. Our brand portfolio is anchored by strong regional, national and international brands including:

• Tooheys New, Tooheys Extra Dry and Tooheys Old
• XXXX Bitter and XXXX Gold
• The Swan and Emu Brands in Western Australia
• The West End and Southwark brands in South Australia
• Hahn Premium and Hahn Premium Light
• James Squire
• Beck’s
• Heineken

In New Zealand, Lion Nathan's share of the beer market averaged 51% for the 12 months to May 2006. As in Australia, our New Zealand beer portfolio includes strong regional, national and international brands including:

• Speight's
• Mac's
• Steinlager
• Waikato Draught
• Canterbury Draught
• Lion Red
• Lion Brown
• Corona
• Stella Artois
• Becks
• Orangeboom
• Brahma

In 2001, Lion Nathan embarked upon a strategy of building a global fine wine business. From the outset, the newly established Lion Nathan Wine Group has been focussed on producing regionally distinctive wines from the world's best wine regions. Through the acquisition of seven Australian wineries, one New Zealand winery and one winery in Oregon in the USA, the Lion Nathan Wine Group now represents an enviable portfolio of pre-eminent wineries each individually focussed on truly expressing their respective premium viticultural region.

Lion Nathan’s Australian wine interests include:

• Petaluma
• St Hallett
• Bridgewater Mill
• Knappstein
• Mitchelton
• Tatachilla
• Smithbrook
• Preece
• Stonier
• Wither Hills (New Zealand)
• Argyle (USA)

In New Zealand, Lion Nathan markets and distributes a comprehensive portfolio of premium champagnes, spirits and RTDs on behalf of a number of international brand owners including The Rum Company, Diageo, Jose Cuervo, and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy. These distribution arrangements mean Lion Nathan's share of the New Zealand spirit market averaged approximately 48% and 5% of the wine market for the year to May 2006.