Originally published Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Redhook Ale Brewery shareholders OK Widmer merger
Redhook Ale Brewery shareholders on Tuesday blessed the company's merger with Widmer Brothers Brewing, of Portland, and the deal is expected...
Seattle Times business reporter
Redhook Ale Brewery shareholders on Tuesday blessed the company's merger with Widmer Brothers Brewing, of Portland, and the deal is expected to close next Monday or Tuesday.
"This is a smokin' good deal," co-founder and Chief Executive Paul Shipman told a few dozen shareholders at its annual meeting in Woodinville.
The deal has taken longer than expected to pull together, he said, partly because the companies discussed various ways to structure the merger. They settled on a 50/50 division of ownership between the companies' existing shareholders.
That required Redhook shareholders to approve the issuance of about 8.4 million shares, worth $36 million Tuesday, to be given to Widmer's roughly 30 shareholders. More than 98 percent of Redhook's voting shareholders approved the issuance.
The new company will be called Craft Brewers Alliance and trade under Redhook's ticker symbol, HOOK. It will be headquartered in Portland and run by co-CEOs David Mickelson, who is Redhook's president and chief operating officer, and Terry Michaelson, president of an existing joint venture between the companies.
Shipman will become chairman emeritus and receive a salary of $90,000 for consulting up to 180 days during the first year after the merger. Some shareholders gave him a standing ovation at Tuesday's meeting, after which Shipman quipped, "The people who stood bought the stock below the current price."
Redhook's profitability and share price have suffered for years because of competition and its own overbuilding in the 1990s.
Widmer has been profitable for at least the past five years, although its 2007 profit was negligible. The breweries are merging at a time of massive consolidation in the beer industry.
"You either get bigger or go away," said shareholder Mel Nordberg, of Seattle, who is a former food broker. "The big guys will eat up your [grocery] shelf space, and it's becoming more expensive to hold those spots."
A Vermont brewery said in April it plans to acquire Seattle's only other publicly traded beer company, Pyramid Breweries.
Widmer already owns about 20 percent of Kona Brewing in Hawaii and 40 percent of Goose Island Beer in Chicago.
Even the giant brewer Anheuser-Busch, which owns roughly a third of Redhook and Widmer and will own that much of the new corporation, has become the target of an unsolicited takeover bid.
Redhook officials said they have no inside information about whether InBev of Belgium would succeed, but Shipman said, "If we find ourselves with InBev people as our partners, I think it would go fine."
Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
Retailers opening doors on Thanksgiving Day
Google makes concessions on digital book deal
Critics want to block Comcast-NBC deal
Google submits revised book settlement

Opening day at Crystal Mountain
Skiers crowded the slopes at Crystal Mountain for one of the resort's earliest openings.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Seattle U. Men's Hoops | Big recruit goes from Huskies to Redhawks
- Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
- Razor found in muffin an accident, 'mortified' baker says
- Suspect's family shaken by slaying of police officer
- Mountlake Terrace woman reports razor in muffin
- Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
631 - Seattle man to pack a pistol into community center to protest mayor's ban
238 - Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
177 - GOP clueless as families struggle with health care
174 - KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
140 - Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
131 - Wright State game thread
97 - Person of interest in custody in connection with Greenwood arsons
96 - Rang says Locker not ready for NFL
85 - Licata looks at boosting traffic-ticket revenue
72
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Washington in race for federal education funds
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Goodwill's Glitter Sale is Nov. 14-15








