OCTOBER 3, 2001
Reemtsma to be floated
Reemtsma, the parent company of McLaren sponsor West, is to be floated although the company is also in talks about a sale to Japan Tobacco.
Reemtsma is the world's fourth largest tobacco company behind Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and has been growing rapidly in the old Eastern bloc. It is also the German distributor for Benson & Hedges.
Reemtsma is largely owned by the coffee company Tchibo, which belongs to the Herz Family, one of Germany's richest.