acquisitions, Foster’s is a perennial favourite.

But for shareholders of the stock, the hangover that began with the overpriced 2005 acquisition of wine producer Southcorp is not about to let up any time soon, The Australian Financial Review reports.

The brewer is fast undoing its ill-fated multi-beverage strategy but has flagged that a demerger of the wine and beer divisions will have to wait until conditions and prices improve in the wine sector.

Foster’s reviewed its wine operations earlier this year and told the market it wanted to improve the performance of the wine division first, because pursuing a demerger straightaway would destroy too much shareholder value.

But Foster’s said all options were still on the table as it focuses on improving the troubled business in an environment where wine asset values remain depressed.