DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE:TAP) (TAP) named Peter Swinburn its new chief executive to succeed Leo Kiely, who will head the impending U.S. joint venture between Molson Coors and SABMiller PLC (SBMRY).

Molson Coors also appointed Stewart Glendinning as global chief financial officer to succeed Tim Wolf, who is chief integration officer-designate of the joint venture. Both appointments will be effective when the venture closes, expected by June 30.

The CEO move was not a surprise to analysts, as some of them had called Swinburn - a 34-year veteran of the beer industry and the current CEO of the Coors Brewing unit - the most likely candidate.

In October, the joint venture plans were announced the same day Molson Coors said Swinburn would become CEO of Coors Brewing, effective Dec. 1. Swinburn, who has also been serving as president, previously held other management posts in the company, which he joined in 2002.

Glendinning is currently the finance chief of Coors Brewers Ltd., the U.K. subsidiary of Molson Coors. In April, Wolf - who has been the company's finance chief since 2005 - was named chief integration officer-designate of the joint venture.

Referring to Glendinning, Chairman Eric Molson said, "His accounting and finance experience at a global level ensure that we will continue to focus on building a solid financial foundation at Molson Coors while making certain that our global growth opportunities contribute strongly to our bottom line."

The merger of the U.S. operations of SABMiller and Molson Coors will create more potent competition for beer industry leader Anheuser-Busch Cos (NYSE:BUD) . (BUD). The new joint venture, approved by the Justice Department last week and the European Commission in April, will control nearly 30% of beer sales in the U.S.

With wine, liquor and small-batch "craft" beers snatching U.S. market share from mainstream brewers, Kiely has been in a tough spot at the helm of Molson Coors. Still, he has managed to increase sales and profit by deploying simple marketing strategies and slashing costs.

Kiely, who rides Harley-Davidson motorcycles through the Rocky Mountains on weekends, joined Coors in 1993 after stints at PepsiCo Inc.'s (NYSE:PEP) (PEP) Frito-Lay (NYSE:PEP) and Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) (PG). He oversaw the merger of Colorado's Adolph Coors Co. and Canada's Molson Inc. in 2005, and is now again working on merging some of the operations of two large beer companies for the Molson Coors and SABMiller joint venture.

Molson Coors, the third-largest U.S. brewer by sales, positions its flagship brand, Coors Light, as "the world's most refreshing beer," and touts the " smooth" taste of Keystone Light, its main discount brand. It also boasts a fast- growing craft-style beer of its own, Blue Moon.

Shares of Molson Coors were flat in premarket trading at $58.63.

-By Donna Kardos, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5963; donna.kardos@dowjones.com

(David Kesmodel of The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.)

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires   06-10-08 0945   Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.