Craft Brew News – 07/25/19

(courtesy or Brewbound – www.brewbound.com)

Anheuser-Busch InBev to Sell Australian Business to Asahi Group Holdings for $11.3 Billion

A week after pulling back from a planned IPO of its Asia-Pacific operations, Anheuser-Busch InBev announced today an $11.3 billion deal to sell its Australian subsidiary, Carlton & United Breweries, to Asahi Group Holdings.

The news also comes a day after The Wall Street Journal reported that A-B InBev was exploring asset sales of business units in Australia, South Korea, Guatemala and Honduras in an effort to cut its $100 billion debt load incurred through its 2016 MegaBrew merger with SABMiller.

For its part, Asahi said the acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries creates a “third core [business] pillar” to go along with its business units in Japan and Europe. Asahi also pointed to “sustainable economic growth” in Australia, where the company already sells brands such as Asahi Super Dry, Peroni and Pilsner Urquell. Carlton & United Breweries’ portfolio of brands, including Carlton and Great Northern, is “highly profitable, with EBITDA margin of over 40 percent,” the company added.

Lord Hobo Cuts 8 Jobs, But Plans to Add Hundreds More as it Opens New Taprooms

Rumors of a large layoff at Massachusetts’ Lord Hobo Brewing Company began circulating Thursday evening on social media.

Reality was much different.

Lord Hobo founder Daniel Lanigan told Brewbound that the company cut eight jobs across sales, marketing, production and taproom staff this week, which he classified as part of the “normal course of business.”

“This is not a layoff. It’s not because of a financial problem,” he said. “We’re up 13,000 barrels this year over last year. We’re having a crazy good year.”

The Woburn, Massachusetts-based craft brewery, Lanigan added, has added 40 jobs over the last 12 months, and is currently hiring six other positions.
Molson Coors Acquires London’s Hop Stuff Brewery

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.

Yeomans wrote “I’m pleased to say that we were able to secure an asset sale to Molson Coors Brewing Company as part of a pre-packaged administration process, which includes our brewery, brand and taprooms and the transfer of all staff to Molson Coors, Due to our financial position, this was the best possible option for our people and the future of our beers, or we faced the whole business going into liquidation.”

Hop Stuff was founded in 2013 with the support of 72 investors, according to the company’s website. The number of investors grew to 1,300 as the company conducted three “successful” crowdfunding rounds. In its third crowdfunding round, the company raised around $1 million (£800,000) in February 2018, taking its total investments received through crowdfunding to around $1.8 million (£1.5 million), according to The Morning Advertiser.

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