Just two years after Anheuser-Busch was sold to InBev, the Saint Louis Brewery -- where Schlafly is made; it's now the oldest locally owned brewery in the city -- might be for sale.
The St. Louis Business Journal broke the story Friday that co-founders Tom Schlafly and Dan Kopman had begun talking to senior staff about the possibility of an employee group purchasing the company.
Schlafly is looking to sell his share to employees or a local ownership group in order to ensure that the brewery remains in St. Louis. Here's what he told the Business Journal:
"My preference would be to sell most of my shares to an employee-based group at whatever the fair market price is," said Schlafly, 61. "I don't want to take the highest bidder from a Cayman Islands venture fund.
Our sister blog Gut Check at the Riverfront Times talked to Schlafly's partner, Kopman, about the potential timing of the sale. He was quick to stress that there was nothing imminent, but instead that the co-founders had merely started to think about succession planning and the best strategy for keeping the Saint Louis Brewing Co. in the city.
"If the right situation doesn't appear in terms of new group, then we
won't do it. We'll just keep going. There's lots and lots of options
available. Nothing has to happen," Kopman told Gut Check Friday.
But it could be the right time for a sale. The craft brewery market has never been stronger. The Brewers Association reported that craft brewers sold 9,115,635 barrels of beer in 2009, up from 8,501,713 barrels in 2008. Last year, 1,595 breweries were in operation -- the highest total since before Prohibition.
The Saint Louis Brewing Co. is also in the midst of a major expansion as it approaches its 20th anniversary. The company has begun contract brewing in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and has expanded its location in Maplewood, Missouri, to ramp up production to 45,000 barrels of beer a year.
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