Grand Metropolitan Board

Grand Metropolitan grew from Maxwell Joseph's London hotel business into a food, drinks and retail conglomerate. Its 1987 purchase of Heublein brought Smirnoff into the group, and its International Distillers & Vintners arm owned Baileys and J&B, the spirits base it contributed to Diageo in 1997.

Grand Metropolitan was built by hotelier Maxwell Joseph in post-war London and expanded through acquisitions into hotels, pubs, food and drinks. It bought International Distillers & Vintners (Baileys, J&B), acquired Heublein in 1987, giving it Smirnoff, and bought Pillsbury, owner of Burger King, in 1989. In 1997 Grand Met merged with Guinness to form Diageo; the new group later sold the food and restaurant businesses to focus on beverage alcohol. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).