AB-InBev takes over craft brewer 4 Pines

Almost exactly two years after the Melbourne craft brewer Mountain Goat sold itself to Asahi, AB-InBev through its ZX Ventures arm, took over the Sydney brewer 4 Pines. The deal was announced on 22 September 2017.

Although not officially on the market like South Australia’s craft brewer Vale Brewing, insiders say that there were rumours that CUB was to buy 4 Pines in 2011 just before SABMiller acquired CUB. This indicates that there must have been a dialogue between Australia’s major brewer CUB (today owned by AB-InBev) and 4 Pines going back some years.

In a joint statement, the companies said that the aspiration of both brewers is “to see the 4 Pines identity and operations amplified to become locally famous in Australia and celebrated globally.” 4 Pines was founded in 2008.

Jaron Mitchell, 4 Pines’ Co-founder said that the sale, which had been discussed for the last twelve months, will allow 4 Pines to deliver new and exciting beers made with ingredients not currently available in Australia, through access to AB-InBev’s Agora community, which facilitates information sharing and ease of access to ingredients for 30 or so breweries across the world.

4 Pines will continue to brew at its Brookvale and Manly breweries, both in Sydney. The team will be unchanged and management will remain in place to help grow the business, with immediate focus on bringing the 4 Pines brand to more consumers nationally. It is understood that an early move will be to significantly increase production capacity at the Brookvale site.

The irony will not be lost on other Australian craft brewers that 4 Pines sold itself to a Big Brewer, after having vocally resisted membership of the craft brewers’ association CBIA for years because it had some Big Brewers as members. 4 Pines eventually joined the Independent Brewers Association (IBA), the successor to CBIA, this year once the IBA had redrafted its membership rules to exclude the Big Brewers.

Ever gracious, the IBA congratulated 4 Pines’ founders on the sale of the business, with executive officer Chris McNamara saying: “They have done a great deal of work in developing the good beer scene in Sydney and beyond and we wish them well in the future. From an industry perspective it is disappointing to lose a key player but it does open up more opportunities for breweries which choose to remain independent.”

Although terms of the deal were not disclosed, insiders estimate that 4 Pines was valued at AUD 55 million (USD 43 million). It brews about 50,000 hl beer.