Rexam, the global beverage can maker, announces that it has jointly with Envases Universales de Mexico (EUM), completed an investment in Envases Del Istmo SA (Endelis), a single line beverage can plant in Colón, Panama. Long term supply agreements have been secured with SABMiller and Florida Ice & Farm Company SA (FIFCO) whose affiliates previously owned the Endelis business.

Florian Kuplent, co-founder and brewmaster of Urban Chestnut Brewing Co., a craft brewery located in St. Louis, MO has purchased the Bürgerbräu Wolnzach in his homeland of Bavaria, and plans to brew small batches of his beers there.

It’s a big worry: with over 3,000 breweries operating in the U.S., basically every large city, landscape feature, creature and weather pattern has been grabbed and trademarked as the name of either a brewery or a beer. For newcomers to the increasingly crowded industry, finding names for their beers, or even themselves, is becoming harder and harder without risking a legal fight.

How good can it get? Craft beer has yet to reach its saturation point. The industry’s U.S. revenue hit an estimated USD 4.2 billion in 2014, and it is now the fastest-growing alcohol category by revenue.

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola is set to cut up to 1,800 jobs worldwide as it continues its cost-cutting efforts, various media reported on 9 January 2015.

And here goes another one. The Spanish brewery group Mahou San Miguel has purchased a 30-percent stake in the Founders Brewing Company, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The transaction was announced on 17 December 2014.

Apparently, any beverage will do for Coca-Cola to help it reach its self-set target of doubling its business by 2020. In December, it launched its own brand of milk, which it claims could become so popular that it will “rain money” for the company.

SABMiller’s monopoly in Colombia is coming under attack. In November 2014 it was announced that Postobon, Colombia’s major soft drinks maker controlled by billionaire Carlos Ardila Lülle, will be joined by Chile’s biggest brewer CCU to start selling beer in Colombia.

Anheuser-Busch has recently completed a round of layoffs, U.S. media reported. But it would not say how many employees were affected, how many were in St. Louis, or give a date the layoffs occurred.

It must be a fun job being a business scout for AB-InBev. All you have to do is visit craft breweries and drink lots of beer in order to sweet-talk their owners into selling their brewery. Or so I imagine. The latest craft brewer to have succumbed to an offer by AB-InBev is the 10 Barrel Brewing Company, located in Bend, Oregon.