Craft beer keeps growing, led by Boston Beer, Sierra Nevada

Source: LA Times

By Tiffany Hsu

January 21, 2013

The craft beer revolution kept charging ahead in 2012, when 12% more barrels were shipped than the year before, the sixth straight year of growth.

Of 27 major craft brewers - all of which saw some gain - 16 had double digit increases, according to industry research group Beer Marketer's Insights' Craft Brew News publication.

In all, the craft beer industry enjoyed a 1.5 million barrel boost to 13.7 million barrels total.

Samuel Adams Boston Lager maker Boston Beer led the segment, with craft beer shipments rising as much as 3% to nearly 2.2 million barrels. But the company's share of the industry has slid to 15.7% from 21% in 2008, according to the report.

Sierra Nevada, a brewer based in Chico, is the second largest in the sector. It's 12.6% shipping gain to 966,000 barrels was its best advancement in more than a decade.

Petaluma brewer Lagunitas Brewing had a blockbuster year, with shipments booming 46% to 235,000 barrels. The company - which makes labels such as Hop Stoopid Ale and Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, has more than quintupled its shipments in five years.

Unlike the general beer industry, where Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors control some 80% of business, craft beer operators exist in more of a diaspora. More than three-quarters of the craft beer segment is split among 2,000 smaller rivals.

Beam to sell several cheaper brands for $65M

Source: Chicago Tribune

By Samantha Bomkamp

January 21, 2013

Beam Inc., which makes Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon, said Monday it has agreed to sell several of its lesser-known brands to Luxco Inc. for a combined $65 million.

 The brands include Calvert, Bellows, Wolfschmidt vodka, Dark Eyes vodka, Canada House Canadian, and Tempo Triple Sec. The Calvert brand includes Lord Calvert Canadian, Calvert Extra and gin, while Bellows' line incorporates blended whiskey, Bourbon, gin, rum, Scotch and vodka.

They are all distributed in the U.S. and posted revenue last year of about $30 million on sales of 1.8 million cases.

Deerfield-based Beam said the sale of these cheaper brands will allow it to streamline its offerings and focus on the brands it has acquired over the last two years, including Pinnacle Vodka, Calico Jack rum and Skinnygirl Cocktails.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the month, but Beam will continue to make and bottle the brands through at least next year.

Luxco is based in St. Louis.

Majors tighten grip on global spirits sector

Source: Just-Drinks

By Ben Cooper

21 January 2013

The world's largest spirits groups are continuing to increase their share of the global spirits market, a new report from Euromonitor International has found.

According to Euromonitor International's Passport report, Growth for International Spirits Companies in Difficult Times, the top ten spirits producers increased their share of the global spirits market in 2011 to 26%, driven both by organic growth and acquisition.

However, the report states that, while international spirits companies have greater potential to expand, they were seeing "mixed results" in growth terms. Companies performing strongest were those with the broadest geographic and category spread, it says. Moreover, strength in emerging markets was not necessarily key.

"Geographic breadth is more important than whether the market is a mature or emerging one," the report says. "The key element is the remaining potential for growth in a particular market. There are still significant opportunities to grow organically in mature and emerging markets."

While the top ten have been pulling away from the pack, the report notes that the gap between the two largest players - Diageo and Pernod Ricard - and the others has also increased. It also notes that a new period of consolidation is beginning in the spirits sector.

In particular, Beam Inc is "vulnerable to takeover", with Pernod Ricard having most to gain from a move for the company, due to its relative weakness in North America and the fact that it would have fewer competition issues than Diageo in making such a move.

"Beam is likely to be the next big company that loses its independence," the report notes. "The company is publicly listed and, more importantly, is weakly positioned both in terms of geographic spread, as 86% of its volumes are sold in mature markets, and brand portfolio."

Thai Tycoon Wins Battle for Fraser & Neave

Source: WSJ

By P.R. VENKAT and CHUN HAN WONG

Jan 21st

Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi (pictured) is poised to win control of Singaporean conglomerate Fraser & Neave Ltd. F99.SG -1.95% after rival bidders led by Indonesia's Riady family backed down on Monday, ending a monthslong stalemate in one of Southeast Asia's largest-ever takeover battles.

Mr. Charoen, a Thai billionaire who controls 40.6% of Fraser & Neave, is now the sole bidder for control of the 130-year-old company, which has interests in property, publishing and food and beverages. He would pay 8.2 billion Singapore dollars (US$6.68 billion) for the remainder of the company, based on his latest offer and stake.

Mr. Charoen's offer of S$9.55 a share-made through his unlisted vehicle TCC Assets-values Fraser & Neave at US$11.2 billion. It is conditional upon acquiring more than 50% of the company by Feb 4. He made his current offer Friday, raising an earlier bid of S$8.88 a share.

Fraser & Neave's independent directors will "evaluate TCC's revised offer and make their recommendations to shareholders in due course," a company spokeswoman said Monday.

In a filing to the Singapore Exchange Monday, the Riady-controlled Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. LJ3.SG +4.38% said it and its partners had decided not to raise their US$10.6 billion offer because a successful takeover would have come with an "unattractive" price tag. The Overseas Union-led consortium's offer of S$9.08 a share lapsed Monday.

The battle for Fraser & Neave began in July last year, a big year for mergers and acquisitions in Southeast Asia, where deal-making reached its highest level since the global financial crisis. The takeover bids also illustrated two important trends-the impact and allure of Southeast Asia's booming economies and the move beyond their home markets of some of the region's largest, most powerful companies-and the billionaire families behind them.

Mr. Charoen's companies make Chang beer and have interests in property and soft drinks. The Riady family controls the Lippo Group, one of Indonesia's most powerful conglomerates, with interests in real estate, publishing and banking.

Fraser & Neave develops residential and commercial properties in Singapore and other Asian markets, and produces dairy products and sports drinks such as 100Plus.

The company has been in play since Mr. Charoen first began buying into it in July. This prompted Dutch brewer Heineken to buy out its 81-year-old beer-brewing joint venture with Fraser & Neave for US$4.6 billion in September and put the rest of the conglomerate's remaining assets in play.

Mr. Charoen made his first bid for the whole of Fraser & Neave in September, offering US$7.2 billion to buy the shares he didn't own.

The Overseas Union consortium followed with a US$10.6 billion offer in November. Overseas Union was backed by Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings Co. 2503.TO +3.15% -Fraser & Neave's second-largest shareholder with a 14.8% stake.

Kirin planned to acquire Fraser & Neave's food-and-beverage business if the takeover succeeded.

It wasn't clear on Monday how Kirin would respond to Overseas Union's failed bid. A Singapore-based public relations executive representing Kirin declined to comment.

The prospect of a bidding war had propelled Fraser & Neave's share price to record highs above existing bids, but both bidders spent months extending offers the company described as fair but not "compelling." Mr. Charoen had extended his original S$8.88-a-share offer seven times since September, while Overseas Union extended its initial S$9.08-a-share bid twice since November.

Fraser & Neave's board noted that both offers were at the lower end of a valuation of between S$8.58 and S$11.56 a share made by its independent financial adviser, J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.04% & Co.

Last week, Singapore's Securities Industry Council stepped in. Citing shareholders' need for certainty, the SIC set a deadline of last Sunday for the bidders to table their final offers or submit to an auction. Mr. Charoen responded Friday with the revised offer, and bought about 93.03 million shares-or 6.46% of the company-on Friday and Saturday at S$9.55 apiece.

Mr. Charoen's new offer marked a 7.5% increase from his earlier bid, but is nearly 2% lower than Fraser & Neave's last closing price Monday of S$9.74 a share.

This forced Overseas Union to submit a better bid by Monday or withdraw from the battle.

In its statement Monday, Overseas Union cited the Singapore government's latest aggressive property market curbs, introduced this month, as a factor in its decision not to raise its bid. Those measures were aimed at reining in soaring housing costs by discouraging investment demand. Analysts described them as the city-state's toughest in over three years.

Oligarch Swoops For Vodka Giant

A Russian billionaire-backed fund is in exclusive talks to buy Poland's top spirits firm for nearly £600m, Sky News understands.

Source: SKY News

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

21 January 2013

A fund backed by one of the Russian businessmen who netted billions of dollars from the sale of a joint venture with BP is in talks to buy the biggest spirits producer in Central and Eastern Europe.

I have learnt that Pamplona Capital Management is close to a 700m euro (£587m) takeover of Stock Spirits Group, which owns some of the most popular vodka and other spirits brands in the world.

Pamplona is backed by Alfa Group, a company headed by Mikhail Fridman and one of the members of the AAR alliance which last year agreed to end its conflict-plagued joint venture with BP in Russia by selling out to Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled energy giant. The deal netted Mr Fridman and his partners at least $7bn each, cementing their status among the world's wealthiest individuals.

People close to the talks said Pamplona had secured a period of exclusivity to finalise a deal with Oaktree, and that an agreement could be reached within weeks.

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street bank, is among the lenders understood to be financing the deal for Pamplona, with a number of other banks lining up for a role.

Stock, which is based in Britain, has been owned by Oaktree Capital Management, another investment firm, since 2007.

The company traces its roots back to the Austro-Hungarian empire of the late nineteenth century, and now claims to be the biggest spirits producer by volume in the Czech Republic and Poland. It is also a major player in markets such as Croatia, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Among its major brands are Stock 84 brandy, Fernet Stock bitter as well as vodkas such as Wodka Zoladkowa and Orzel. Some of the products are distributed in the UK through big supermarkets although Britain accounts for a tiny proportion of the company's sales.

Stock is chaired by Jack Keenan, a former executive at Diageo, and run by Chris Heath, the former chief financial officer of Gondola Holdings, the parent company of restaurant chains including Pizza Express, ASK and Zizzi.

People close to the situation said it was likely that Stock's management team would continue to run the business under Pamplona's ownership if the takeover is completed.

The talks with Pamplona represent at least the second attempt by Oaktree to sell Stock. In 2011, it examined a stock market listing of the company, following which Diageo expressed an interest in buying it.

Those talks came to nothing, although it is conceivable that Diageo or another of the major spirits producers will return in future with an offer to buy Stock as they attempt to broaden their exposure to major spirits markets in the region.

Pamplona invests funds across Europe and has tried to buy a string of assets in the UK, including an aborted attempt to acquire the snacks arm of United Biscuits late last year.

It owns Oakwood Global Finance, which comprises two portfolios of residential mortgages, and KCA Deutag, a provider of drilling and engineering services to the oil and gas industry.

Oaktree and Pamplona both declined to comment on Monday.

Grape prices expected to remain strong in 2013

Source: THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ

January 17th

North Coast grape growers and the wineries that buy their fruit have achieved a rare state of balance.

After a strong year for grape prices in 2012, Sonoma County's largest crop should hold its value in 2013, said Glenn Proctor, partner with San Rafael grape brokerage Ciatti Co.

"What we're seeing here is a relatively stable market," Proctor told a group of 500 growers Thursday at the 22nd annual meeting of the Sonoma County Winegrowers. "In Sonoma, North Coast, we think it's going to remain strong."

Grape buyers surveyed by Ciatti Co. said they expect to buy more grapes this year than they planned at the same time in 2012. They anticipate paying the same or slightly more for their grapes than they did last year.

"We think there might be some price pull-back on certain varieties because we had such a large crop, but we're not seeing that just yet," Proctor said. "Most buyers are discussing re-signs and long-term contracts."

The impact of several years of short crops followed by high grape prices led many wineries to look outside the region for grapes. This year, wineries will import the equivalent of 40 million cases of bulk wine, Proctor said.

Normally, when the wine industry reaches a point where grape demand outstrips supply, vineyard owners plant more grapes, said Rob McMillan, founder of the wine division at Silicon Valley Bank.

"We're not even up to replacing what's being taken out at this point," McMillan said. "Why don't we see a lot of planting happening? Because we've got a lot of imports."

To raise the region's profile nationally and internationally, Sonoma County Winegrowers has been collaborating with Sonoma County Vintners and Sonoma County Tourism on a joint advertising and marketing campaign, said Karissa Kruse, marketing director for the grape growers group.

The group plans to produce a series of videos to educate the public about grape growing, she said. It also is launching new efforts using social networks LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.

"I want to raise the bar on our positioning," Kruse said. "We have a great, great story to tell about who we are and where we've been. I don't want to just represent our 16 board members. I want to tell the whole story."

Piedmont bows to California over Trinchero copyright tussle

Source: Decanter

by Richard Woodard

Friday 18 January 2013

Piedmont winery Trinchero has had to remove the family name from its wine labels in the US after facing a legal threat from the maker of the Sutter Home brand, according to reports.

The website of the Houston Press said Trinchero Family Estates - the California-based maker of Sutter Home and Trinchero Napa Valley - had written to Agliano Terme-based Trinchero threatening legal action.

Monica Riessent, export director at the Barbera d'Asti producer, told the site that the winery could not afford to fight the American Trinchero in the courts.

'They said that they'd allow us to sell our wine in the US,' she told the site, 'but they insisted on a number of restrictions in the contract they sent: we could only sell a limited number of bottles . In the end, we knew that we couldn't fight it.'

Neither Trinchero (Piedmont) nor Trinchero Family Estates could be reached for comment on the reports.