Pernod Ricard first became involved in the Irish drinks industry when it won control of Irish Distillers 12 years ago after an acrimonious takeover battle which initially involved Allied Domecq, before the British group was forced to withdraw for competition reasons.

Since then, Irish Distillers has been a huge success for Pernod with IDG's premium Jameson whiskey brand being developed as one of Pernod's global brands. IDG's last published results are for 1997 - the group's results have since been absorbed into Pernod's accounts - and in that period, profits rose by 20 per cent to £58.9 million. This continued a trend of steady profits growth at C & C.

While Pernod does not break down the profits contribution from its various subsidiaries, analysts believe that Irish Distillers accounts for about a quarter of the French group's profits.

For many years, Allied Domecq shared ownership of C & C with Guinness Ireland. Guinness, however, for competition reasons was forced to sell its C & C stake to Allied Domecq after the merger with Grand Met which created the Diageo food and drinks group. Allied Domecq, subsequently, sold C & C to a management group backed by British venture capital company BC Partners for £578 million.