In May, billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos bought Pabst Brewing for $250 million. His sons Evan and Daren plan to scale up and possibly export the brand,
Bloomberg Businessweek
reported.
C. Dean Metropoulos, the article said,
started out with a feta cheese business in Vermont and has established a long record of turning around names like Bumble bee Tuna, Perrier-Jouët, Chef Boyardee, Duncan Hines, Aunt Jemima, Vlasic Pickles, Swanson frozen dinners, and Ghirardelli Chocolate. He bought Pabst from the charitable trust of Paul Kalmanovitz, the company’s late owner….
Pabst Brewing’s brands include Colt 45, Old Milwaukee, Primo, Rainier, Schaefer, Stroh’s, Schlitz, Schmidt, Lone Star, National Bohemian and Pabst Blue ribbon. The beers are brewed through a contract with MillerCoors, the report noted.
In most of his previous deals, Metropoulos entered into partnerships with private equity firms and investment banks, and later sold out…. Pabst, says Metropoulos, is different. It’s the first purchase Metropoulos has made without outside capital or an exit strategy. With Evan and Daren at the company’s helm beside their father, the Metropouloses see Pabst as a platform for possible future acquisitions, and the foundation of the family’s legacy.
Kalmanovitz, who oversaw a hostile takeover in the company in 1985, “quickly cut the company’s advertising budget, bled the company of cash, and focused on developing the brewer’s real estate,” the
Bloomberg Businessweek
article said. In contrast, the Metropoulos brothers are taking Pabst into more restaurants, supermarkets and bars and are talking to the Hollywood connections. (Source:
Bloomberg Businessweek,
Sept. 20-26, 2010.)
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