Heineken buys remaining 50 percent stake in Lagunitas
No surprise, really. On 4 May 2017, Heineken completed a deal to take full control of Petaluma, California-based Lagunitas. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Lagunitas also has a brewery in Chicago and plans a third in Azusa, Los Angeles, to be opened in 2018, that initially will produce more than 400,000 barrels (470,000 hl) beer a year.
With Heineken in tow, Lagunitas has opened taprooms in Seattle and Charleston, South Carolina, and bought stakes in three US breweries: Austin, Texas’ Independence Brewing; Santa Rosa, California’s Moonlight Brewing; and Southend Brewery & Smokehouse in Charleston, South Carolina, which was rebranded as a Lagunitas brewpub.
Lagunitas reportedly produced 910,000 barrels of beer (1.06 million hl) last year and expects to brew about 1 million barrels in 2017.
Heineken bought the first 50 percent stake in September 2015 for allegedly USD 500 million. Since that first deal occurred, Heineken has helped boost the international presence for Lagunitas, bringing the brand to new markets such as Latin America and Europe.
Founded in 1993 by Tony Magee, 57, Lagunitas grew to become one of America’s top-selling national craft brands. It was the sixth-largest craft brewer in the US before the initial Heineken deal, which resulted in the brewer being removed from the Brewers Association’s annual top 50 list.
Mr Magee, who has been a critic of American craft breweries selling to AB-InBev, approached Heineken about the original 50 percent sale and also pushed to sell the other half because “this will accelerate growth and opportunities for Lagunitas,” he said.
Heineken said that to retain the culture at Lagunitas, it would remain a separate business entity within the broader Americas region group. Mr Magee will remain active as chairman and the current management team will stay the same. Mr Magee will also be tapped to help Heineken develop the company’s global and local craft strategy.
One netizen commented on the final sale that it’s high time for “beer lovers to realize it is a business and the businessmen who make the beer are not counter cultural heroes, they are businessmen who portray themselves as counter culture heroes because that narrative sells beer.”
