Speights takes trendy new direction. With VIDEO.

What started three years ago as a marketing gimmick for Guinness beer has become a major festival in Ireland, but it has yet to gain traction in New Zealand.

Pernod Ricard NZ is selling some of its Gisborne and Hawke's Bay wine brands and assets to Lion Nathan NZ and its joint venture partner Indevin.

Pernod Ricard is selling 12 brands to Sydney-headquartered Lion Nathan, while Indevin will take ownership of the Gisborne Winery, all company owned vineyards in the Gisborne region and the Twin River's vineyard in the Hawke's Bay.

The sale is subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.

In the latest twist to globalisation, New Zealand's two main breweries will indirectly have the same shareholder.

Lion Nathan owner Kirin Holdings, one of Japan’s leading beer companies, has taken a shareholding in Singapore's Fraser & Neave, which has an indirect shareholding in DB Breweries.

Kirin is paying nearly $US1 billion for the Singapore government’s 14.7% stake in F&N, which in 1931 with Heineken formed Asia Pacific Breweries (formerly Malayan Breweries). (Heineken is the largest shareholder in listed APB with 42.5%.)

AMP Capital Investors is reviewing all aspects of its Lion Breweries Newmarket project as industry participants wonder if even an investor of its stature can pull off a $1 billion development on prime land in Auckland in this market.

The sale of the 5.2ha site on Khyber Pass Road for $162 million was agreed in 2007 before the global financial crisis crunched credit and investors' appetite for risk, and only a $50 million deposit has been paid.

Beer drinkers’ more sophisticated palates are boosting the bottom lines of the two major brewers despite an overall drop in market volume.

Asia Pacific Breweries, owner of DB Breweries, says pretax earnings are up 52% for the first half, due mainly to a 4% volume gain, favourable sales mix and the appreciation of the New Zealand dollar.

Overall, APB reported group revenue grew to $S1.25 billion for the six months to March 31 – 17% higher than the same period last year, mainly due to higher volumes.