A new brewery group on the horizon?
Someone seems to have a vision. From what we at BRAUWELT International have heard, the Dutch private equity vehicle Waterland has set its eyes on buying into privately owned Belgian breweries to establish a group of breweries, much like Duvel Moortgat (Brasserie d’Achouffe, Brouwerij De Koninck, Bernard in the Czech Republic, Ommegang and Boulevard in the U.S.). Waterland reportedly seeks to acquire stakes of at least 50 percent in the breweries.
The plan seems to be to create a portfolio of Belgian specialty beer brands, which already do well internationally. The first brewery to have succumbed to Waterland’s offer is the Bosteels brewery in Buggenhout.
Bosteels brews about 90.000 hl of beer, most of which are exported. Its main brands are Karmeliet, Kwak and Deus.
The deal was announced on 1 July 2014. No transaction details were made public, though. But, from what we have gleaned, Bosteels’ net profit is EUR 5 million (USD 6.8 million). The company has no debts. Insiders reckon it could be valued at EUR 90 to EUR 100 million, considering that a few years back Duvel Moortgat paid EUR 36 million for the De Koninck brewery in Antwerp which then did about 40,000 hl beer.
Whether Waterland has lined up any other breweries at this point is unclear. But as we all know: “money talks”. If other Belgian brewers hear how much Bosteels got, they might perhaps be swayed more easily.
It’s worth bearing in mind that a decade ago no one in their right mind would have paid any good money for these small Belgian breweries. Nowadays they are given the same valuation multiples big brewing companies receive.
Whether such a high valuation is justified is open to debate. After a decade of phenomenal growth – five years ago Bosteels only did 30,000 hl – Belgian specialty beers are facing strong headwinds from craft brewers that have since sprung up in their major export markets.
Nevertheless, at Waterland they must believe that they can put a brewery group together and sell it on before the Belgian beer export phenomenon implodes.
Waterland was set up by the Dutch-born Rob Thielen, 53, in 1999 who currently serves as its Chairman. According to its website Waterland has made investments in over 280 companies and sits on EUR 2.5 billion (USD 3.5 billion) of equity.
As it happens, Mr Thielen is well known to the international investment community because of a high-profile court case last year. In July 2013 a Monaco court ordered him to pay his Russian ex-fiancée EUR 1 million he promised her before finding out she was a high class prostitute. When he appealed against the court ruling, he was successful.
