Foster's could be takeover target after it demerges wine business

More than a decade after the brewer of the eponymous lager began its aggressive expansion into wine, Foster's said that it plans to list the business, which includes brands such as Wolf Blass and Beringer, separately in Sydney.

Foster's shares jumped almost 10pc on speculation that stripped of the troubled wines business, the group may now become the subject of a bid, with SABMiller's joint venture with Coca-Cola Amatil seen as the likely bidder. Smaller rival Molson Coors, which owns 5pc of Foster's, could also get involved. Ian Johnson, Foster's chief executive, described it as a "watershed moment" for the company.

Foster's moved into wine in 1996 when it bought Mildara Blass from the Barossa Valley. Its $7bn (£5.1bn) expansion ran until 2005, when the company bought US rival Southcorp, for $3.2bn, in a move that made it the world's second-biggest wine business after Constellation Brands.

However, profits from wine, which accounted for 40pc of the company's total just three years ago, have slumped by nearly a quarter as the surging Australian dollar, the global recession and a grape glut take their toll. Across Australia, thousands of hectares of vines are being torn up in an attempt to halt the oversupply and drive wine prices back up.

Foster's, which is taking a A$1.3bn writedown on the wine business, has yet to decided on the final structure for the wine business and its management.