On Thursday evening, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sazerac has approached Brown-Forman over a potential tie-up. Both companies have declined to comment on the reports.
It comes after Pernod Ricard and Brown-Forman both acknowledged on March 26 that they were exploring a deal, although both emphasized that no decisions had been taken.
US spirits shake-up
Kentucky-headquartered Sazerac is a privately-held spirits company, boasting 500+ brands such as Buffalo Trace, Sazerac Rye and Black Magic.
It’s also made several acquisitions in the space: with Dirty Shirley and Svedka vodka last year, as well as BuzzBallz in 2024.
A tie-up between France’s Pernod Ricard and America’s Brown-Forman would have a large international dimension: combining top French Champagne brands, Irish whiskey Jameson, and Swedish vodka Absolut (among many others) with Brown-Forman’s expertise in American whiskey.
That would create a global spirits leader: approaching (but not quite reaching) the size and weight of Diageo.
A Brown-Forman and Sazerac deal would be very different: with both companies focused on the American market.
The US spirits market is not an easy one in 2026: and analysts from TD Cowen note that Sazerac is a company that has performed relatively well against this backdrop. In fact, it has even made moves to expand production capacity with an ongoing $1bn investment in the new Campbellsville, Kentucky facility.
But a Sazerac and Brown-Forman deal could hit a roadblock with anti-trust concerns: a combination of the two would see them account for an 18% share of the US market and nearly 40% of American whiskey.
But it may be that the story is far from over. Back in 2017, Constellation Brands made a play for Brown-Forman and was knocked back. In the last two weeks, Brown-Forman has been linked to Pernod Ricard and then Sazerac.
“We would not be surprised to see other distilled spirits companies express interest as well,” say TD Cowen analysts in a note.