SABMiller is buying Britain’s Meantime Brewing Company, snapping up one of the pioneers of craft brewing to give the owner of big brands such as Peroni and Grolsh exposure to a fast-growing part of the drinks market.
A surge in demand for craft beers in recent years has stolen market share from the world’s two biggest brewers, SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev, as consumers seek a more authentic taste and support niche, local suppliers.
Sales volumes of Meantime’s beers including London Pale Ale and London Lager soared 58 percent in 2014, compared with a 1 percent rise in Britain’s beer market as a whole.
Meantime was founded with the backing of a group of friends in a former tramshed in Greenwich in south London in 1999. Set to become part of a brewing giant, supporters of craft beer say the brand risks losing part of its authentic appeal.
Meantime’s chief executive Nick Miller, who joined from SABMiller in 2011, tried to fend off worries that the company was selling-out.
“SABMiller shares our passion for putting great beer first, and making, selling and marketing it responsibly to beer aficionados worldwide,” he said in a statement on Friday.
Meantime’s founder Alastair Hook, its brew master, and Miller will continue to be part of Meantime following completion of the deal, expected in early June.
SAB said it planned to grow the sales of Meantime’s beers across Britain and would also look to export it to other markets in Europe.
SABMiller’s U.S. joint venture with Molson Coors, MillerCoors, already sells Blue Moon in that country, another beer that plays in the craft beer category, though its real craft credentials are often questioned.
AB InBev bought Goose Island, another U.S. craft beer brand, in 2011.
Craft brewery founder Jeff Rosenmeier, whose Lovibonds brewery is based in Henley-on-Thames, southern England, questioned whether Meantime’s beer could still truly be called craft.
“I probably won’t be drinking Meantime anymore,” he said.
The financial terms of the deal were not being disclosed, SAB said.
Shares in SAB traded up 0.9 percent to 3,630 pence at 0856 GMT, with analysts praising the company’s entry into the craft beer market.
“The variety of styles added to SAB’s extensive local and heritage beer menu should serve it well,” Accendo Market’s Mike van Dulken said.
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