Crown Imports executive says company not for sale

NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Corona beer distributor Crown Imports, a joint venture between Constellation Brands Inc (STZ.N) and Grupo Modelo (GMODELOC.MX), is not for sale, according to its president.

In a presentation at a meeting of beer wholesalers on Monday, Crown Imports President Bill Hackett said Crown was not for sale.

He quoted Constellation Chief Executive Robert Sands as saying he has never expressed interest in selling Constellation's half of Crown, or in ending its relationship with Modelo, the Mexican brewer of Corona.

A Constellation spokesman confirmed the comments on Tuesday.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Swartzberg, who attended the meeting, said Hackett's comments threw cold water on a round of industry and market speculation.

Following an August meeting with Sands, Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Greenberg wrote in a note on Sept. 1 that Sands had expressed interest in terminating the joint venture and indicated that the franchise could be "severable" sooner than the contract expires, without harming the rest of the business.

"He indicated that management would always be willing to entertain offers it considered attractive from an economic value standpoint," Greenberg wrote.

Greenberg was not available to comment on Tuesday.

While some on Wall Street have long speculated that Modelo would like to acquire the venture outright once the contract expires, that possibility has been called into question by consolidation on a larger scale.

Modelo is half-owned by Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (BUD.N), which has agreed to a takeover by Belgian rival InBev NV INTB.BR to form the world's largest brewer.

Modelo has yet to bless the InBev deal, but if it ended up in InBev's portfolio, regulatory concerns could hinder a bid for Crown, which distributes top-selling import Corona, as well as Modelo, Tsingtao and St. Pauli Girl in the United States.

Constellation shares were up 14 cents or 0.6 percent at $22.60 on the New York Stock Exchange in afternoon trading. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Brian Moss and Gerald E. McCormick)