Brown-Forman Corporation

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Brown-Forman Corporation
Type	Public (NYSE: BF/A, NYSE: BF/B)
Founded	1870
Headquarters	Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Key people	Paul C. Varga, Chairman & CEO
Industry	Distilled beverage Wines
Revenue	▼$2.444 billion USD (2006)
Employees	3,350
Website	www.brown-forman.com

The Brown-Forman Corporation is one of the largest American-owned companies in the spirits and wine business, and is a diversified producer and marketer of various consumer products. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Brown-Forman employs 3,350. Some well-known brands of the corporation include Jack Daniel's, Canadian Mist, Southern Comfort, Early Times Kentucky Whisky, Woodford Reserve Bourbon, Old Forester Bourbon whiskey, Korbel champagne, Fetzer wine, Finlandia vodka, and Bolla wine.

Recently, the company bought Tequila Herradura, a well-known Mexican company that produces tequila.

The company was founded in 1870 by George Garvin Brown, a young pharmaceuticals salesman in Louisville, who had the then-novel idea of selling top-grade whiskey in sealed glass bottles. Since then, it has grown into a company that in fiscal 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion. The Brown family controls more than 70% of the voting shares [1].

[edit] Stock information

Brown Forman has two classes of common stock. The Class A voting shares are traded under ticker symbol: NYSE: BF/A on the NYSE. Because of the control by the Brown family, the Class A shares are thinly traded.

The Class B non-voting shares are traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol: NYSE: BF/B.

[edit] Recent events

Brown-Forman recently sold its Lenox division as part of a plan to refocus the company on its wine and spirits production. The income generated by the sale has been distributed to the shareholders in the form of a one time special dividend.

Also as a part of this minor restructure, Brown Forman sold its Hartmann Luggage division to Clarion Capitol Partners.

Brown-Forman recently agreed on an $800 million loan from Bank of America. This loan was taken at a relatively attractive rate. The money will probably be used in part to finance the recent Casa Herradura acquisition.