Australia: Former Carlton & United Breweries CEO buys Australian craft beer and spirits firms

Former Carlton & United Breweries CEO Peter Filipovic has acquired Mismatch Brewing Company and 78 Degrees in a multi-million dollar cash deal, The Drinks Business reported on April 5.

The AU$7 million acquisition, which follows each of the Adelaide companies having been bought almost three years ago by Mighty Craft as part of a AU$47 million deal will now see the assets for each of the two subsidiaries transferred to a consortium named Mismatch Brewhouse Publicans led by Filipovic.

The company, which, according to local reports, was registered in late March, follows Filipovic’s other acquisitions when he picked up craft beer brand Jetty Road from Mighty Craft last year.

The $7.2 million cash deal reportedly includes the Mismatch and 78 Degrees brands, intellectual property, trading names, contracting arrangements, inventory, equipment and licences. The move follows Mighty Craft having acquired the two South Australian brands plus Hills Cider just under three years ago in a deal worth $47 million, an agreement that also included 75% ownership of the LOT.100 venue at Hay Valley in the Adelaide Hills.

This new deal is said to include the assignment of the leases for the Mismatch Brewhouse venue in Adelaide’s Whitmore Square, as well as the Mismatch and 78 Degrees production facilities in SA.

According to reports, Mismatch only recently took over the Whitmore Square pub and microbrewery site, which previously housed Adelaide craft beer brand Sparkke and the plan had been for Mismatch to return the site to pre-Covid trading volumes and wipe out the AU$1.5 million debt Sparkke owed.

Speaking about the craft subsidiary sale to Filipovic, a spokesperson for Mighty Craft said the sale was “conditional upon the transfer of all liquor licences, and businesses accepting offers of employment made by the buyer”.

The Mighty Craft spokesperson added: “It is intended that approximately half of the proceeds of the sale will be paid to MCL’s senior lenders as partial repayment of its outstanding debt facilities and the other half will fund the ongoing operations of the business. Whilst the timing of completion of the sale is uncertain, the parties are currently targeting a settlement on or prior to 31 May 2024.”

05 April, 2024