RINGWOOD Brewery is to be part of a new beer business created by its owner Marston’s and the UK arm of Carlsberg.

Marston’s and Carlsberg UK are merging their beer making operations to form the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company.

Marston’s will own 40 per cent of the joint venture, and will now focus on its pub and accommodation business.

Carlsberg UK will own 60 per cent of the business.

The deal values Marston’s brewing business at £580million and Carlsberg UK’s at £200m.

Ringwood Brewery produces such favourites as Old Thumper, Forty Niner and Razor Back.

The merger does not include Marston’s pub operation, which has a number of local pubs.

The companies said talks over the move started towards the end of 2019 and hope to seal the deal in the third quarter of 2020.

Ralph Findlay, chief executive of Marston's, said: "I am delighted to announce today's joint venture with Carlsberg UK.

"This new partnership acknowledges Marston's strategy, position and consistent outperformance against the UK beer market, realising value for shareholders today, whilst retaining an interest in the future upside of the combined entity.

"Marston's strong heritage, extensive distribution platform and established reputation for brewing and logistics excellence, together with Carlsberg UK's values, long history in beer, brand portfolio and scale, combine the best attributes of both to create a compelling beer business with an outstanding portfolio of global and local beer brands, proven brewing expertise, strong distribution network and wholesale opportunity."

Tomasz Blawat, managing director of Carlsberg UK, said: “Our intent for the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company is for it to become a platform for growth for all of our customers and suppliers, offering a bigger beer portfolio of complementary international, national and regional brands.

"We believe the new business will deliver even more value for employees, customers and consumers, thereby creating greater future growth potential."