To corner or gain leverage in the market for nicotine production for vaping maybe? The Canadian subsidiary of BAT, Imperial Tobacco just announced this week (hit the news today) that they are starting production of vaping products, and they are lobbying the Canadian Government to influence the vaping products regulations that are being drafted right now.
'Why aren't we allowed to sell a less harmful product?' Imperial Tobacco wants into e-cigarette market
Not that i believe e-cigs are a factor in this proposed takeover, butI do not think that Imperial is a subsidiary of BAT. I was under the impression that the two are competitors, with BAT being the smaller of the two.
Imperial Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco Canada are not related. When Reynolds bought Lorillard a couple of years ago, Blu Ecigs ( which was owned by Lorillard ), along with some cigarette brands, was sold to Imperial Tobacco due to anti-trust concerns. Reynolds already had Vuse e-cigs.
Imperial Tobacco Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAT and as far as i know does not have ecigs as part of their catalogue, although their parent company, BAT do have a couple of ecig products in their portfolio.