THE AMERICAN drinks group which owns Scotch whisky brands Teacher's, Laphroaig and Ardmore has been sold to Japanese drinks giant Suntory in a £9.8 billion deal.

The agreed sale of Illinois-based Beam Inc, maker of Jim Beam bourbon and Courvoisier brandy, comes shortly after Suntory completed its acquisition of soft drinks brands Lucozade and Ribena, which were offloaded by GlaxosmithKline in a £1.35bn deal.