E-Malt.com News article: Canada: Sleeman Breweries appoints new president and chief operating officer from Japan

Sleeman Breweries has replaced four senior executives, including president Rick Knudson, the company's chief executive said, according to The Canadian Press, December 19.

Knudson, appointed president and chief operating officer in January 2003, is being replaced by Kenny Sadai from Japan's Sapporo Breweries Ltd., which bought the Guelph-based beer maker for about $400 million last year and took it private.

Sadai has 20 years of experience at Sapporo.

John Sleeman, who remains chief executive of Sleeman Breweries, wouldn't name the three other executives affected by the restructuring.

The company promoted two junior employees to more senior roles, and filled the other two spots with Sadai and another Sapporo worker, he said.

"Certainly, the fact that Sapporo is our new owner and they've slotted in a couple of their folks, that wouldn't happen, I suppose, if Sapporo hadn't bought us," Sleeman said.

The moves were partly a cost-cutting measure, he added.

"If you look at a jigsaw puzzle, certainly we have some tremendous cost increases coming our way," Sleeman said.

"We already have pretty expensive beer in Canada, so cost-cutting is one of the things that plays into it in conjunction with giving other people a chance to move up and giving some international people some Canadian experience."

Sleeman said Sapporo has told him his own future is not in doubt, and he expects to take a more active role with the brewing company that bears his family's name for "several years."

Sleeman is the third-biggest beer maker in Canada after Molson Coors and Labatt.


19 December, 2007