• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Anheuser-Busch InBev hopes to fully own Grupo Modelo by divesting the Mexican brand’s U.S. business (win?)

February 15, 2013Keith Gribbins

Anheuser_Busch_InBev
Just a small sampling of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s large American portfolio. Note the otherworldly beer bird in the corner: It’s part of the AB InBev logo.

At one point, it looked like Anheuser-Busch InBev might control 46 percent of the beer industry in the United States, monopolizing the market as if it were really the only king of beers. Last summer, AB InBev (the biggest beer baron in the world, currently a publicly traded company based in Leuven, Belgium) announced it was looking to buy the 50 percent of Grupo Modelo that it didn’t already own (a Mexican beer conglomerate, home to famous American imports like Corona and Pacifico).

Red flag consumer? White flag craft brewer? Luckily, in January, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit to block the merger of these two giant beer companies, saying the deal would limit competition and lead to higher prices for American consumers. Unfortunately, that’s probably not going to matter: Big beer has released the hounds, lawyers and financial sharks.

Background: Grupo Modelo has a joint venture with Constellation Brands (an S&P 500 Index and a Fortune 1000 company that is the world leader in premium wine). Through its Crown Imports LLC joint venture with Grupo Modelo, Constellation distributes and markets many leading imported beers across the United States, including Corona Extra, the no. 1 imported beer in America. Grupo Modelo had already agreed to sell its half of the joint venture with Constellation Brands in an effort to avoid antitrust concerns. The companies said Thursday that Constellation would pay $1.8 billion to take complete ownership of Crown. What’s the bigger win here? AB InBev agreed to give up its option to buy the rights to distribute Modelo brands in the United States.

Yesterday, according to a news release, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Constellation Brands Inc. announced a revised agreement that establishes Crown Imports as the no. 3 producer and marketer of beer in the U.S. through a complete divestiture of Grupo Modelo’s U.S. business. The transaction establishes Crown as a fully owned entity of Constellation and provides Constellation with independent brewing operations, Modelo’s full profit stream from all U.S. sales and rights to distribute the Grupo Modelo brands in the United States (beer like Modelo, Pacifico and Corona Extra and Corona Light).

As part of AB InBev’s acquisition of the 50 percent of Grupo Modelo it does not already own, AB InBev has agreed to sell Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila, Grupo Modelo’s state-of-the-art brewery in Piedras Negras, Mexico, and grant perpetual brand licenses to Constellation for USD 2.9 billion, subject to a post-closing adjustment. Legal experts and industry analysts say AB InBev will eventually get its way – one way or another – so feel free to sound off your opinion in the comments below. How will this affect the craft brewing industry?

Crown Imports Rick Bayless
Chef Rick Bayless brews up a new craft beer for Crown Imports
terminator beer wars
Is Anheuser-Busch InBev looking to terminate beer competition around the world?
Anheuser_Busch_InBev
AB InBev to buy SABMiller for $104 billion (a deal that largely does not concern the U.S. market)
Big Beer merger
Here’s really why craft beer is better than Big Beer (A-B InBev and SABMiller merger react)

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • State of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
  • MicroStar Logistics launches Network Services Division to manage reusable plastic pallets for the beer Industry
  • Analyst speculates on Heineken acquiring Boston Beer, stock jumps
  • United States Bartenders’ Guild now has access to WOTVS Hospitality Assistance Program

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • CCBA California Craft Beer SummitState of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
    March 23, 2023
  • Koga-brothers-karben4Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
    March 20, 2023
  • 4 steps to understanding the filtration process in craft beer
    March 20, 2023
  • newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
    March 16, 2023
  • brooklyn 35 featureBrooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
    March 14, 2023
  • Backwoods Brewing to open a 19-acre resort called Party Acres in the Columbia River gorge this May
    March 13, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC