Craft brewers Vale and Feral sold on the same day
The alcohol division of Bickford’s, otherwise best known in Australia for its cordials and fruit juices, has acquired the craft brewer Vale. Both businesses are from South Australia and privately owned. The deal was announced on 12 October 2017.
The acquisition of Vale Brewing, formerly owned by brothers Tim, Pete and Mike Collin, includes the Fox Hat Brewing and Dr Pilkington’s Cider brands.
The alcohol division of the Bickford’s Group, Vok Beverages, will begin selling and distributing all three brands from 1 November 2017.
Bickford’s said the primary driver of the sale was to grow distribution and scale of the Vale brands via an “established, independently owned South Australian beverage business aligned with the vision of Vale’s founders”.
Vale Brewing was established in 2008 with the flagship Vale Ale brand, but has since grown into a portfolio of more than ten core products with distribution in both packaged and draught throughout Australia and internationally.
The three Collin brothers have been majority owners since the early stages of the business and took 100 percent ownership in 2015.
Vale has been on the market for a while. Consultancy firm Deloitte announced at the Australian craft brewers conference in July 2017 in Adelaide that they were looking for a buyer for Vale, whose business growth, insiders say, had stalled.
Also on 12 October 2017, it was announced that one of Western Australia’s most popular breweries, Feral, has been was bought out by Coca-Cola Amatil.
Founded in 2002, Feral was owned by Brendan Varis, whose reason for the sale was that he was looking for a major shareholder to clear up [debt in the business], according to the online news service Crafty Pint.
No financial details for both transactions were disclosed.
But the news reverberated through the craft beer industry, since three breweries were sold in the short span of one month. In September 2017, Sydney craft brewer 4 Pines was bought by AB-InBev’s ZX Ventures.
With those three gone, there is hardly anything of some size left to buy. Many observers wonder how long the biggest craft brewer, the 70,000 hl Stone & Wood from Byron Bay will stay independent.
Stone & Wood Brewing Co. was established in 2008 by Jamie Cook, Brad Rogers and Ross Jurisich, all of whom previously worked at CUB, Foster’s Australian brewing arm.
Trevor O’Hoy, one of the directors of Stone & Wood (and for those with a longer memory, the CEO of the Foster’s Group until 2008), has been heard saying only a 100 percent takeover offer will be considered.
This will require a buyer with very deep pockets.
