On the block
Fix it, sell it, or kill it. Is that all they teach them at business schools these days? Apparently, in their quest for ever higher margins, InBev’s powers-that-be know no other way out when dealing with a brewery that is not delivering “stellar performance”. Now it’s “fix it or sell it” for Rolling Rock, InBev’s only U.S. brewery. Rumour has it that InBev is looking to sell its U.S. domestic beer brand Rolling Rock after struggling to revive the iconic brand over the last decade. InBev has decided to concentrate its U.S. sales and marketing resources on imported brands such as Bass, Brahma and Labatt Blue, as well as Stella Artois and Beck’s, which means that it might sell the Latrobe Brewery in Pennsylvania, where Rolling Rock is being brewed, and keep the brand. Alternatively, InBev might sell the whole lot, lock stock and barrel, which might fetch an estimated USD 50 million to 100 million, depending on any cost-saving synergies available to a purchaser. Pundits claim that Rolling Rock is unlikely to attract bids from the top three U.S. brewers, but might attract attention from smaller players. Rolling Rock has been brewed at Latrobe since 1939 and has a strong following among beer drinkers in the north-eastern U.S. InBev came into possession of Rolling Rock when it purchased Canada’s second-biggest brewer Labatt in 1995, but according to media reports its
Select offer and read on
6 print issues