Deal Making Preserves Coors Clan as American Beer Dynasty
October 25 2016 - 10:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Tripp Mickle
Few beer-industry insiders expected the Coors family to be the
last American brewing dynasty left in the business after
consolidation reduced the industry to a handful of big players.
Other clans bowed out over the decades. The Millers exited their
namesake brewery in the 1970s, the Schlitzes in the 1980s, and the
Stroh and Busch families in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively.
The Coors empire, by contrast, grew over four decades to 60-plus
brands sold in more than 50 countries from two brands sold in 11
states, as Pete Coors, vice chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Co.,
pursued a series of deals that preserved the independence of the
family business.
Now, the Coors family, along with the Molsons of Canada, have
taken full control of the U.S.'s second-largest brewer, paying $12
billion for the rest of a joint venture that combined their U.S.
operations with those of SABMiller PLC. Paving the way for that
deal was Anheuser-Busch InBev NV's acquisition of SABMiller, which
closed this month.
Buying out its partner in the U.S. venture isn't a slam dunk for
Molson Coors. While the deal is expected to help the Denver-based
brewer eliminate more than $250 million a year in costs, it saddles
Molson Coors with a declining business as Mexican lagers and craft
brews cut into sales of Miller Lite and Coors Light, its
best-selling American brands. The company's U.S. beer-sales volume
fell 16% to 54.2 million barrels last year from 64.5 million in
2008, according to Beer Marketer's Insights.
In an interview, the 70-year-old Mr. Coors voiced confidence
that the brewer's struggles in the U.S. will end now that the U.S.
operations are back in his company's hands, and free of the
competing priorities of two companies.
Molson Coors aims to improve light beer sales by gunning for
rival AB InBev's Bud Light, expanding sales by its stable of craft
brewers, including Georgia-based Terrapin Beer Co., and reigniting
sales of lower-priced beers like Miller High Life and Hamm's.
"We've put ourselves in position to take advantage of a great
opportunity," said Mr. Coors.
Knowing when to make or avoid a deal has helped make the Coors
family survive as many brewing families faltered. Mr. Coors said
the then Adolph Coors Co. passed on acquiring Stroh Brewery Co. and
watched as it struggled with debt before selling its brands to
Miller Brewing Co. and Pabst Brewing Co. in 1999.
Coors expanded internationally in 2002 with a successful $1.7
billion acquisition of parts of Britain's Bass Brewers PLC.
Three years later, the Coors and Molson families combined their
largely U.S. and Canadian operations to form Molson Coors. In 2008,
they merged the U.S. business with SABMiller's, forming a joint
venture called MillerCoors LLC to better compete with
Anheuser-Busch.
The deal with SABMiller eliminated more than $1 billion in
costs, and Molson Coors's profit soared. It negotiated the right to
buy back SABMiller's share of the venture after AB InBev agreed to
take over the London-based brewer in 2015.
"We are clever like a fox, but sometimes you have to be lucky as
well," Mr. Coors said.
Susquehanna Financial Group beer analyst Pablo Zuanic said he
thinks the value of the brewer's $12 billion investment in buying
the rest of MillerCoors could increase by half in three to four
years, which would put it "in a strong position...to negotiate a
merger with Heineken [NV], " he said.
Heineken, the world's No. 2 brewer by volume, has a U.S. market
share of just 3.9% share, dwarfed by AB InBev's 44% share and
Molson Coors's 25% share. Teaming up with Molson Coors could boost
the Dutch brewer in the U.S., while giving Molson Coors, which
relies on the U.S. for 70% of its revenue, more heft overseas.
Mr. Coors said he expects the beer industry's consolidation to
continue, and Molson Coors to be a part of the action. "We haven't
stopped doing strategic thinking about what's available globally,"
he added. But he declined to discuss any potential mergers.
The U.S. business has shown some signs of improvement since
Molson Coors announced the MillersCoors takeover last year. Coors
Light and Miller Lite delivered flat sales through the first half
of 2016. And, in an annual survey this year by Tamarron Consulting,
beer wholesalers for the first time named MillerCoors as the
nation's best brewer in sales, marketing and leadership.
Still, its net sales declined 1% to $3.94 billion in the first
half of the year from $3.98 billion a year earlier.
Molson Coors Chief Executive Mark Hunter said brands like Miller
High Life and Keystone Light lacked "care and attention," and that
the company will change that with new pricing, ad campaigns and
packaging.
"We'll be a bigger business, with more firepower," Mr. Hunter
said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 25, 2016 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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