KPS Capital Partners To Sell North American Breweries To Cerveceria Costa Rica, S.A.
10/26/2012 – NEW YORK (PRNewswire) – KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") announced today that it signed a 
definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company, North American Breweries Holdings, LLC ("NAB" or the "Company"), to Cerveceria Costa Rica, S.A. ("CCR"), a subsidiary of Florida Ice and Farm Company, S.A., for $388 million in cash. NAB is one of the largest independently owned beer companies in the United States and the owner of a diverse portfolio of brands including Labatt, Genesee, Seagram's Escapes, Magic Hat, Pyramid, the Original Honey Brown Lager, Dundee and MacTarnahan's. NAB operates four state-of-the-art breweries and seven retail locations located in New York, Vermont, California, Oregon and Washington.
KPS formed NAB in February 2009 as a platform for investments and growth in the North American beer and malt beverage industries. At that time, KPS also announced NAB's first three acquisitions: Labatt USA from a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev; substantially all of the assets of High Falls Brewing Company, LLC (now known as the Genesee Brewing Company); and a perpetual license for the Seagram's Escapes and Seagram's Smooth brands from Pernod Ricard USA, LLC. In 2010, NAB acquired Independent Brewers United, Inc, one of the largest craft brewers in the United States, and owner of the Magic Hat, Pyramid and MacTarnahan's brand families of craft beer.
Raquel Palmer, a Partner of KPS, said, "In forming NAB, KPS did not buy or invest in a company; rather we created a new company that became one of the largest and fastest growing independent beer companies in the U.S. NAB is a complete validation of the KPS investment strategy of seeing value where others do not, buying right, making businesses better and creating value for our investors. We take immense pride in what NAB has accomplished."
Ms. Palmer added, "We congratulate and thank the NAB management team for their extraordinary tactical execution of our vision, which resulted in the Company's significant revenue growth year after year and the eventual acquisition by a leading international strategic buyer."
KPS also thanks the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and NAB's craft union partners for their contributions toward the success of NAB. Completion of the transaction, which is expected in the fourth quarter, is subject to customary closing conditions. Jenner & Block served as legal counsel to NAB with respect to the transaction and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal counsel to KPS.
UBS Securities, LLC acted as financial advisor to KPS and NAB with respect to the transaction.
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