Read the latest beer industry financial news and reporting relating to investment, mergers and acquisitions. Explore the biggest deals, as well as what the financial future looks like for breweries in terms of capital availability, deal terms, lending, and the strategic marketplace in order to help shape your planning strategy for the short and medium term.
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The first major piece of RNDC’s territory fire sale is now complete. Reyes’ mega deal for 11 RNDC markets closed at the end of business on Friday, adding 38 million cases to its more than 360-million-case business.
More dominos continue to fall as RNDC’s territory sell off continues. Leaders with Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors announced an agreement to acquire “distribution rights for a collection of wine and spirits brands” from RNDC’s New York joint venture with Opici Family Distributing.
Firestone Walker and Duvel USA have inked a “definitive agreement” to acquire the Stone Brewing brand from Sapporo USA.
Rearrange the blocks, or sell them? That’s the question that Craft Brew Alliance CEO Andy Thomas seemed to be working through in a rare off-cycle conference call with investors and analysts today after his company’s largest playmate, Anheuser-Busch InBev, declined its long-held option to purchase the Portland, Oregon-headquartered craft beer maker.
Following last week’s news that Spanish brewer Mahou San Miguel had agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Michigan’s Founders Brewing Company, co-founder Mike Stevens told Brewbound that his goal of building “America’s next great brewery” remains unchanged. In fact, Stevens said Mahou’s investment brings that goal closer to reality.
The awkwardness between Craft Brew Alliance and Anheuser-Busch InBev didn’t end last Friday when the world’s largest beer manufacturer passed on making a qualifying offer to purchase the company. CBA CEO Andy Thomas told Brewbound that the awkwardness has shifted from a will-they, won’t-they-get-married scenario, to one in which the question is if the two companies still want to live together now that they’re no longer engaged.
In this week’s Last Call: California ABC Investigates Amazon; US Beer Shipments Down Again in July; Anheuser-Busch’s ZX Ventures Acquires Barbarian; MillerCoors Launches New Blue Moon Campaign
In a deal that will make it the largest wholesaler of Anheuser-Busch products in Massachusetts, Quality Beverage announced today an agreement to acquire Williams Distributing. Financial terms of the asset purchase, pending supplier approval, were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in October. Speaking to Brewbound, Quality Beverage president and CEO Conrad Wetterau said the company will add 2.8 million case equivalents (CEs) in the transaction from Williams Distributing.
In this week’s Last Call: Hops & Vines Sells to Ambiente Wine Parent Company; Braxton’s VIVE Named Hard Seltzer of NFL’s Bengals; North Carolina Governor Signs Law to Allow Pets in Breweries; Anheuser-Busch Announces Post Malone Bud Light Cans and ‘Busch Latte’ Packaging
Anheuser-Busch InBev is back in the craft beer M&A game. After a two-year hiatus following the May 2017 acquisition of Wicked Weed, the world’s largest beer manufacturer announced today the acquisition of Cleveland’s Platform Beer Co., a transaction that is expected to close in the third quarter.
Anheuser-Busch InBev announced today the acquisition of fast-growing Ohio craft brewery Platform Beer Co. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In a press release, A-B noted that Platform was “the fastest growing regional brewery in the United States in 2017.” According to data from the Brewers Association, the Cleveland craft brewery increased production from 6,500 barrels to 20,000 barrels that year.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s innovation and growth division, ZX Ventures, has sold Minnesota-based homebrew supply retailer Northern Brewer to Blackstreet Capital Holdings LLC.
In this week’s Last Call: Angry Orchard’s security is accused of racial profiling; June U.S. beer shipments decline; Peter Coors calls for government to intervene on aluminum pricing in op-ed; Facebook imposes new alcohol restrictions; and more news.
Molson Coors has acquired financially troubled London craft brewery Hop Stuff. In a blog post, Hop Stuff founder James Yeomans said the company had been facing “financial difficulties in the recent months” that forced it to enter “administration,” a process similar to bankruptcy in the U.S., on July 12.
The largest beer wholesaler in the U.S. has made another big acquisition in California. Reyes Holdings today announced that subsidiary Harbor Distributing LLC has reached an agreement to acquire DBI Beverage Inc.’s assets in Northern California. The news comes one week after Reyes sold its Reinhart Foodservice division to Performance Food Group Company for $2 billion.
In this week’s edition of Last Call: Smuttynose and Hop Valley shuffle executives; Boston Beer and Dogfish Head’s merger closes; Deschutes Brewery adds distribution in Indiana, New Jersey; Reyes Holdings sells Reinhart Foodservice for $2 billion; and more news.
Financially troubled Celis Brewery is scheduled to be auctioned off during two separate public auctions slated for July 2. According to public sale notice in the Austin American Statesman last Friday, the building housing the Austin craft brewery at 10001 Metric Boulevard will be auctioned off during a public foreclosure sale at the Travis County Courthouse on the morning of July 2.
