Tony O'Brien's C&C is likely to face some stiff competition from some of the bigger international drinks groups for the four brands that are likely to be sold off by Diageo. But the Irish group is seen by industry analysts to at the very least be in a strong position to bid for the two Italian brands - Cinzano vermouth and asti spumante and Vecchia Romagna brandy.

While the brands - the others are Metaxa Greek brandy and Asbach German brandy - are unlikely to be of interest to any of the European majors, some in the industry believe that transatlantic groups like Seagrams and Bacardi which have few European brands will probably be interested in Metaxa or Asbach. Expect Pernod Ricard - owners of Irish Distillers - to also take a look.

Diageo has made much of its statement that a sale of the brands is not a foregone conclusion, but the rise of the Diageo share price following the announcement was based on a belief in the markets that they will be sold. If Diageo ends up holding on to any of the peripheral brands, it will undoubtedly be badly received.

While some analysts have put a combined price tag of more than £350 million sterling (almost £420 million) on the four brands, industry sources expressed surprise at such a suggested price. With the exception of Metaxa, which scrapes into Drinks International's Top 60 brands with its one million cases a year, none of the others are big sellers.

Cinzano sales have been falling and the brand has been losing out in its sector of the market to Martini, while Vecchia Romagna 500,000 cases a year sales are almost totally in Italy. Asbach, likewise, may be one of the top German brands, but it has never established much of a presence outside its home country.

C&C, however, has done quite well out of its foray into Italian liqueurs and aperitifs, and there would be undoubted synergies between the existing operations and Cinzano and Vecchia Romagna. Expect C&C to focus its attention on these brands, there may be too much competition for Metaxa and Asbach.