Were there fewer craft-brewery mergers and acquisitions in 2017 than in recent years? Has it become a buyer’s market? Will there be more “creative” deals in the craft-beer industry going forward? Let’s look at the perception and the reality of each of these three points.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Perception: After transacting and consolidating at a torrid pace since 2014, craft-beer merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity has slowed down dramatically in 2017 and into early 2018.
Reality: This is not true. There were thirty publicly known transactions in the United States in 2017, which is an increase over 2016. However, many of these were smaller transactions or minority sales, so the total transaction value was likely significantly lower than in 2016 or 2015, and the relative lack of notable, large transactions may have led to a perception of fewer deals.