Founders to buy back small stake to regain craft brewer status

Why did they not do this in the first place? At the Barcelona Beer Festival (24 - 26 March 2017), Tim Traynor, International Market Manager of Founders Brewing Co, said his company was planning to buy back eight percent of its own shares, previously acquired by Spanish brewer Mahou San Miguel, in order to put an end to the debate whether Founders is still a craft brewer or not.

The whole controversy over Founders’ status only arose when in December 2014 the Grand Rapids-based brewery sold a 30 percent minority stake to Mahou San Miguel of Madrid. Although Mahou San Miguel is privately-owned and has been going for over a century, it’s far too large in terms of beer output to live up to the “size” criterion (7 million hl) as established by the Brewers Association.

Even then the self-appointed industry watchdogs sniggered that this transaction made Founders a craft brewer no longer since the stake sold was larger than was allowed by the Brewers Association (less than 25 percent) and thus scuppered Founders’ status as independent.

It seems that the polemic has not died down since. Tired of justifying themselves, Founders’ American owners seem to want to buy back part of the stake held by the Spaniards to push the outside ownership below the 25 percent threshold.

That’s provided Mahou San Miguel agrees to return the shares. After all, the Spaniards must have had a reason to seek a 30 percent ownership stake rather than 24 percent.

Founders was established in 1997 and in 2015 produced over 310,000 hl beer.