Obituary: Sir Anthony Tennant, businessman

After the bitter bid for the Edinburgh-based Distillers Company by Guinness in 1987 Sir Anthony Tennant, a much respected industrialist in the City, was made chairman of the brewing company to restore its tarnished image. He settled matters in the boardroom, integrated the various divisions of Distillers into the new company and maximised the sales especially in the Far East of the company's famous brands of whisky and gin. It meant reducing the work force, especially at senior management level, but Tennant set about the task knowing it had to be done in the company's long-term interests.

Tennant then became chairman of Christie's, the international London auctioneers, only to be embroiled in one of the most acrimonious commercial law suits of recent years.

He found his name besmirched amid allegations - which he firmly denied for the rest of his life - of complicity in price fixing with Christie's major competitor, Sotheby's. As Tennant refused to answer the charges in a US court he was branded a "fugitive from US justice".

Anthony John Tennant's forebears were Ayrshire farmers who had made a fortune through the invention of bleaching powder in 1799. Tennant was the son of Major John Tennant, a Liberal politician, and after attending Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge he did his national service in the Scots Guards.

His father had expected him to follow him into the City but Tennant decided to join the London advertising agency Mather & Crowther, He became a director in 1959 and is credited with pioneering such well known campaigns as "Good food costs less at Sainsbury's" and "The Secret of Schhh..." for Schweppes tonic water.

His reputation grew in the commercial world and in 1970 he was approached to become marketing director of Truman, the London brewers. It was taken over first by Watney Mann and then by Grand Metropolitan Hotels.

Tennant was in charge of Grand Met's spirits' division (principally International Distillers & Vintners) from 1976 and displayed financial and commercial acumen in maintaining a close watch on the budget and introducing new brands, such as Bailey's Irish Cream and Le Piat d'Or wine. Over the decade while he was in charge profits rose rapidly and his reputation was further enhanced.

So Tennant appeared to be the ideal choice to mend the battered fences at Guinness. He joined the company in 1987, just as the Guinness support scandal hit the headlines.

The Guinness bid for the Distillers Company was a long drawn out and controversial affair.The Scottish businessman Jimmy Gulliver of the Argyll Group was seen by many as a more attractive prospective owner but Guinness's offer was funded in shares and, to be victorious, its offer had to be kept as high as possible.

Wealthy companies and institutions kept buying shares to make the Guinness price more attractive. The subsequent court case ended the careers of several former high flyers. For his part Tennant studiously avoided involvement in the scandal and set about a fundamental reconstruction of the company - ensuring it concentrated on brewing and distilling.

It was a remarkable commercial turn around (on his first day he arrived to find the chief executive's office locked) and when he retired as chairman in 1992 the company was on a surer footing and he wished shareholders the very best of luck, adding: "Everyone needs some of that."

For Tennant it must have seemed his luck had run out when he succeeded Lord Carrington as chairman of Christie's. In his three years there Tennant was alleged to have conspired with the buccaneering chairman of Sotheby's, Alfred Taubman, to fix the rate of commission the two houses charged.

In a lengthy and involved case Taubman paid a 5 million fine and was imprisoned. Tennant protested his innocence and refused to go to court. Accounts differ and are still a matter of controversy.

Tennant argued that to go to America it would mean a long (and personally) very expensive case. At the time he said that his task at Christie's was "to chair the board and to perform high-level ambassadorial and client relationship duties".

He maintained he was not an executive chairman involved in the day-to-day running of the business. The ignominy, however, was considerable and Tennant resigned all his directorships and only remained as a trustee of various charities.

It was a sad end to a career that had been much praised. Tennant had always been a shrewd manager of his workforce and displayed a fine flair for marketing.

His final years were spent as something of a recluse at his home in Hampshire.

Anthony Tennant was knighted in 1992. He married, in 1954, Rosemary Stockdale and she and their two sons survive him.