Ten months after it was announced, the Department of Justice has approved the merger of Craft Brew Alliance (CBA) and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
“This latest milestone brings us one step closer to officially joining the Brewers Collective family,” CBA CEO Andy Thomas said in a press release. “We look forward to combining our resources, talented teammates, and dynamic brands as we continue nurturing the growth of CBA’s existing portfolio and investing in innovation to meet the changing needs of today’s beverage consumers, all while delivering certainty of value to our shareholders.”
CBA shareholders will receive $16.50 per share when the deal closes, which is expected “in the coming weeks.”
In February, the DOJ sought more information and documentation about the planned merger. Both companies had filed documents with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the DOJ’s antitrust division, as required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.
In June, CBA announced it would sell its Kona Brewing operations in Hawaii in an effort to meet DOJ approval. As part of that deal, CBA said it would sell the rights to the brand, operations and two brewpubs in Kailua-Kona and Honolulu to PV Brewing Partners, a partnership between former A-B president Dave Peacock and VantEdge Partners, a family office based in Overland Park, Kansas, should it receive regulatory approval on its merger with A-B.
A-B has long held an ownership stake in CBA, and the world’s largest beer manufacturer agreed to acquire the 68.8% of CBA that it didn’t already own in November 2019. The proposed sale was approved nearly unanimously by CBA shareholders in February.
That 68.8% was equivalent to 13.4 million shares, which totaled $221.1 million at $16.50 per share.
Once the deal closes, CBA’s brands — Widmer Brothers Brewing, Redhook Brewery, Kona Brewing, Omission Brewing, Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Cisco Brewers, Wynwood Brewing and Square Mile Cider — will join the Brewers Collective, A-B’s craft division. Brewers Collective brands include 10 Barrel Brewing, Breckenridge Brewery, Blue Point Brewing, Devil’s Backbone Brewing, Elysian Brewing, Golden Road Brewing, Four Peaks Brewing and Goose Island, among others.
In 2019, CBA’s portfolio of brands produced a combined 761,000 barrels of beer, according to data from industry trade group the Brewers Association. This marked a 1% increase from its 2018 production volume of 756,959 barrels. A-B’s combined Brewers Collective brands produced 2,074,000 million barrels in 2019, according to the BA.
A press release follows after the jump.