Players include liquor giants like Pernod Ricard and Jose Cuervo, plus small entrepreneurs like Hagar.
Mr Porta, 50, will report to Pernod Ricard deputy chief executive Alexandre Ricard from July.
Plymouth, owned today by Pernod Ricard, arguably has the richest history of any gin, period.
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Pernod Ricard reported a 4% decline in western European sales, with a 9% fall in Spain.
The European Commission is bringing the case on behalf of Pernod Ricard, a French company.
The other big growth company is Pernod Ricard, which bought much of the Canadian-based Seagrams in 2000.
Chairman and chief executive Christian Porta will move to Paris after being appointed head of Pernod Ricard Europe.
Booming Scotch whisky sales have helped French drinks giant Pernod Ricard record its strongest growth for four years.
No value is being placed on the proposed investment, ahead of a market update by Pernod Ricard next week.
BBC: Chivas Brothers reveal plans for new Speyside distillery
Mr Lacassagne, who is also a former head of Orlando Wyndham, has led Pernod Ricard Europe since July 2008.
Diageo now gets a jump over Pernod Ricard which so far had a stronger market position in India.
Scotch whisky sales in the second half of last year were "challenging" in South Korea, according to Pernod Ricard's half-year report.
In Pernod Ricard's champagne sales, Perrier-Jouet sold well in the Americas, Asia and France, but western Europe led decline for Mumm.
Pernod Ricard claims it was not theirs to sell, because they failed to re-register it when it lapsed in the 1970s.
The head of Chivas Brothers is to take up a new role at owners Pernod Ricard after seven years in the job.
Pernod Ricard has announced that the nephew of recently deceased chief executive Patrick Ricard will take the company's helm from January 2015.
In the past year, for example, Pernod Ricard struck a big deal to buy Britain's Allied Domecq, and France Telecom bought Spain's Amena.
Earlier this month, Pernod Ricard - the second largest distiller of Scotch whisky - reported flat global sales for the second half of 2012.
The French multinational Pernod Ricard helped create Dragon Seal in 1987, for example, and Seagram's and Remy Martin have also been involved in joint ventures.
The French-owned firm, part of Pernod Ricard, wants to build on the site of the Imperial distillery near Carron, which has not been used for 14 years.
BBC: Chivas Brothers reveal plans for new Speyside distillery
France Telecom shares jumped after the announcement of its acquisition of Amena, as did those of Pernod Ricard and Suez after their respective takeovers were made public.
Distributed by French beverage giant Pernod Ricard SA, bottles in the first 5, 000-case run will be labeled simply Yao Ming and aimed at the top end of the market.
Since May firms such as Fiat, Pernod Ricard, a drinks firm, and Wind, an Italian telecoms firm, have all raised high-yield debt, and many more are set to follow suit.
It last tried to strike a deal with Mr Mallya in 2009, and since then its archrival Pernod Ricard of France has stolen a march on it, expanding its whisky business in India quickly.
Pernod Ricard gives the photographers virtual carte blanche.
Meanwhile Pernod Ricard said that sales in Asia and the Americas helped to offset a fall in its home market, France - its best results since 2007-08 at the height of the global economic downturn.
It's home to some of the world's largest drink companies, such as Jameson whiskey maker Pernod Ricard, and Diageo (nyse: DEO - news - people ), the company behind brands such as Smirnoff and Guinness.
Beam and Brown-Foreman are in a sweet spot in that they are large enough to be taken seriously in a cutthroat market yet small enough to still be considered as possible acquisitions by a Diageo or Pernod Ricard.
Pernod Ricard said the sale of its soft drinks brands, which account for 5% of the firm's profits, would be "an important step in recentring the group on its core activity, spirits and wines, in which it will become one of the world leaders".
That would be a big shot glass to swallow for either Diageo or Pernod-Ricard.
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