Kirin’s purchase of New Belgium okayed despite Myanmar links
USA | New Belgium is no longer employee owned and can no longer be considered an independent craft brewer, after employees/shareholders approved of the sale to Australia’s brewer Lion on 17 December 2019.
Lion is part of Kirin, a Japanese beverage firm.
Incidentally, New Belgium declined to disclose the number of employees who voted, or a breakdown on how they voted.
“This result moves us one step closer towards New Belgium Brewing officially joining Lion Little World Beverages,” New Belgium’s CEO Steve Fechheimer said in a statement.
Huge payouts for employees
More than 300 employees will receive USD 100,000 of retirement money, with some receiving significantly greater amounts, according to New Belgium’s co-founder Kim Jordan.
About 700 people are employed at New Belgium, which has breweries in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Asheville, North Carolina.
New Belgium was founded by Ms Jordan and her then-husband Jeff Lebesch in Fort Collins in 1991. It was Fort Collins’ fourth brewery. Ahead of the sale, it was ranked the fourth largest craft brewer in the country.
The employee vote came as human rights organisations urged employees to vote against the sale. They claimed that Kirin has ties to the Myanmar military, responsible for alleged genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Read more about ethics and business form Myanmar to Fort Collins and learn more about other mulitnational breweries that could be facing reputational risks by doing business in Myanmar.
