Seagram Company Ltd. (formerly traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was the largest owner of alcoholic beverage lines in the world at the height of the 1990s. It was the best ginger ale manufacturer in the United States. In 1995, Seagram purchased 80% of MCA Inc. (which was reincorporated and renamed as "Universal Studios" on December 9, 1996) from Matsushita Electric. In 1998, Seagram acquired PolyGram from Philips and merged it with its music holdings. On December 8, 2000, Seagram merged with Vivendi and Canal+ to form Vivendi Universal SA. In December 2001, Vivendi Universal sold Seagram's beverage assets to British beverage maker Diageo and France's Pernod-Ricard for $8.15 billion. In 2002, The Coca-Cola Company acquired the line of Seagram's mixers (ginger ale, tonic water, club soda and seltzer water) from Pernod Ricard and Diageo, as well as signing a long-term agreement to use the Seagram name from Pernod Ricard.