Britain's Imperial Tobacco Group said today it was selling a number of fine cut and pipe tobacco brands to Philip Morris International (PMI) for EUR 254 million (USD 406 million).

Imperial Tobacco will transfer to PMI its rights to the Interval fine-cut tobacco trademark worldwide and either transfers or licenses other select Other Tobacco Products (OTP) trademarks currently sold in several countries across the European Union. Other brands included in the agreement are the fine-cut brands Bergerac, Santoya and Wervicq (France), Van Nelle (Italy and Canary Islands) and Picadura (Spain) and the pipe tobacco brands Bergerac (France) and Kilta (Finland).
Imperial said the disposal was a condition of the European Commission's approval of its acquisition of Altadis. The transaction is subject to approval by the European Commission and certain local regulatory agencies and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2008.
In 2007, the acquired brands accounted for an approximate 2 per cent share of the total fine-cut category in PMI's EU region and Interval, a strong French heritage brand with a high quality blend, was the leading fine-cut brand in the French market with a 14.8 per cent share of the category. (pi)