MORE AMERICAN BRANDS <AMB> ACQUISITIONS SEEN
American Brands Inc's 545 mln dlrs
acquisition of National Distillers and Chemical Corp's liquor
business is expected to be one of a series of acquisitions by
the tobacco company, analysts said.
     "They were very frustrated with their inability to get
Chesebrough. They said they were looking for an acquisition. It
doesn't surprise me that they came up with another one," said
Allan Kaplan of Merrill Lynch and Co.
    American Brands failed late last year in its 2.9 billion
dlrs bid for Chesebrough-Ponds Inc when Unilever N.V. agreed to
buy the company. But since then, Wall Street has been
speculating that American Brands would find another candidate
to help reduce its earnings exposure to tobacco.
    "This is just typical," said George Thompson of
Prudential-Bache securities. "There's going to be more to come
here. American Brands had to make an acquisition because
tobacco is still a significant part of earnings. Their position
is a little less favorable than Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds,"
he said.
cash flow from its low growth tobacco, but the tobacco business
does require great amounts of capital expenditures. It can
therefore use its funds to make acquisitions. Analysts said the
National Distillers' spirits company, which makes Gilbey's gin
and vodka, Old Grandad and Old Crow whiskey, is not quite the
type of acquisition they envisioned.
    "The distilled spirits business has been in a steady
gradual decline for sometime, as has the tobacco business,"
said Thompson.
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