New Belgium Brewing has announced that the employee-owned company is selling to Australian-based Lion Little World Beverages, a subsidiary of Japanese Big Beer, Kirin Holdings Company Limited. New Belgium was the fourth largest US craft brewery as defined by the Brewer’s Association.
New Belgium owns a majority stake of Magnolia Brewing in San Francisco and the deal includes that majority stake, plus Lion will also buy out the remaining minority ownership of Magnolia from Dick Cantwell and Oud Beersel. Ironically, Dick Cantwell was a minority owner of Elysian Brewing in Seattle in 2015 when his two partners overruled his “no” vote and the brewery was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Kirin Holdings is not new to the US craft beer industry as it owns a 24.5% stake in Brooklyn Brewery. Because it’s ownership is under 25%, Brooklyn Brewery remains craft brewery as defined by the Brewer’s Association. With the New Belgium sale, Brooklyn becomes the 11th largest craft brewery in the US. Kirin is also technically a minority owner of 21st Amendment Brewing and Funkwerks too, because Brooklyn Brewery has a minority ownership of each brewery.
It will be interesting to watch Kirin Holdings in the upcoming months to see if they increase their ownership in Brooklyn Brewery, 21st Amendment Brewing and Funkwerks.