Report: Sazerac offers $15B for Brown-Forman

5:18 p.m. April 15, 2026

DUANE CROSS
MCO Publisher•Editor

Reuters reported Wednesday that privately held Sazerac has offered about $15 billion to buy Brown-Forman, the Louisville-based spirits company whose portfolio includes Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg.

Citing a source familiar with the matter, Reuters said that the offer amounts to about $32 per share.

Brown-Forman owns Moore County’s signature distillery, its largest employer, and one of the names most closely tied to Lynchburg itself. The distillery also brings more than 300,000 visitors to town each year.

The Sazerac report also muddies Brown-Forman’s already-public talks with Pernod Ricard, the French liquor giant that has been exploring a deal of its own.

Analysts told Reuters that Pernod has generally been seen as the more natural match, partly because of its global reach. A share-swap deal could also help the Brown family keep some control of the company it has run since 1870.

But Sazerac is hardly new to this business.

The company has spent years growing through acquisitions, and it already has a history with Brown-Forman. Sazerac bought Southern Comfort and Tuaca from Brown-Forman in 2016. It is also expanding in Tennessee through its newly named AJ Bond Distillery in La Vergne, which is expected to release its first Tennessee whiskey this summer.

Still, this is a report, not a deal.

Sazerac declined to comment, while Brown-Forman and Pernod Ricard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Investors took notice, but they did not act as if a sale had been made. Brown-Forman shares closed Wednesday at $29.57, up about 1% on the day but still below Sazerac’s reported offer price. That suggests the market still sees real obstacles to any deal, including the Brown family’s controlling stake.

The timing matters, too. The spirits business is not riding the same wave it was a few years ago. Alcohol companies are dealing with weaker demand after pandemic-era highs, along with supply-chain strain, tariff uncertainty, and a broader pullback in consumption. Brown-Forman said last month it was sticking with its fiscal 2026 forecast despite what it called a volatile and uncertain macroeconomic environment.