Spirits company Berentzen bought by private equity company Aurelius
In the end, only a private equity company was willing to spend any money on Germany’s drinks company Berentzen. In July, private equity company Aurelius acquired 75.1 percent of common shares in Berentzen-Gruppe AG from family shareholders and has launched a EUR 2.68 euro per share offer to buy the preferred shares of the company which are stock market listed.
The Munich-based industrial holding Aurelius agreed with the families Berentzen, Wolff, Pabst und Richarz on the acquisition of 75.1 percent of the ordinary shares of the drinks company Berentzen. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Yet acquiring the non-voting preferred shares of Berentzen will cost Aurelius an extra EUR 13 million.
The 250 year old drinks company Berentzen Group is well-established
in the German market with brands like Puschkin Vodka, Doornkaat,
Bommerlunder and the core brand Berentzen. Moreover, the company markets
international license brands such as Licor 43 and Linie Aquavit. As the biggest
German license bottler of Pepsi Cola and producer of wellness drinks (Vivaris), Berentzen is also engaged in the market for non-alcoholic beverages.
In fiscal year 2007 Berentzen Group generated gross revenues of EUR 186 million (or EUR 432.7 million including excise) and a negative operating income. It posted a full-year loss that had widened to EUR 11.4 million from EUR 0.7 million the year earlier as the company spent more on marketing to revive the popularity of its core Berentzen brand.
Reasons for the eventual sale of Berentzen were strategic differences among the members of its board. It was an open secret that members of the four families, whose companies had merged over the past two decades under the Berentzen umbrella, had been engaged in vicious in-fighting over the company’s course.
Although it was reported that up to the last moment 20 shareholders, the Berentzen family among them, were against a sale, they could not prevent it.
Aurelius said that they would not take over the 24.9 percent of their common stock.
After the realignment of the strategy, which may include the sale of certain brands and businesses (such as the soft drinks business), Aurelius aims for a quick return to profitable growth at Berentzen.
Berentzen employs 700 people at both Haselünne and Minden. Aurelius plans to invest EUR 20 million to EUR 25 million annually in marketing Berentzen’s brands.
On the occasion of the sale, the future fate of Berentzen’s CEO Axel Dahm had not been decided.
The transaction is pending regulatory approval.
Aurelius has a wide range of investments whose turnover is to cross the EUR 1 billion threshold with the acquisition of Berentzen. Aurelius is listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange and has seen its share price decline to EUR 16 in July 2008 from EUR 40 in October 2007.
