The Wall Street Journal pointed out Carlsberg and Heineken are considering joining up to buy out Scottish & Newcastle and then split the two evenly.

 Two of Europe’s largest beer brewers said they have formed a consortium to bid for British rival Scottish & Newcastle PLC, which has a £7.13 billion ($14.53 billion) market value, with a plan to divide the company between the two buyers. Scottish & Newcastle, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, said the announcement was “unsolicited and unwelcome.”

This buying and splitting up a company to expand distribution and increase revenue is more confusing to me than quantum physics. Here’s what troubles me with this though, and only from what I’ve heard second and third hand; the bigger brewers are knocking out the small micro’s and greatly reducing selection. Stateside the microbrews are holding their own and growing. How is the European market going to be affected? Or has all the little guys already been bought up and dispersed?

Maybe someone closer in proximity might like to comment. The closest I’ve come to Europe is looking across the ocean. Oh, and sampling imports.

Cheers.