(Press Release)
LOS ANGELES, Calif.–First Beverage Financial, the investment banking arm of First Beverage Group, today announced that it acted as the financial advisor to Firestone Walker Brewing Company in its agreement with Duvel Moortgat to combine the two companies in the USA. Firestone Walker will continue to operate independently at its Paso Robles, California facility under its current leadership of co-founders Adam Firestone and David Walker. The companies expect the transaction to close later this year. Terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.
“This was a very complex transaction that will unfold over many years,” said David Walker. “First Beverage took the time to really understand the financial and emotional desires of all the invested stakeholders. Our main goals were preservation of the company’s culture, control, capacity and capital for future investments. The knowledge and discipline that First Beverage brought to this process has allowed us to achieve all of these, as well as to better position both Duvel Moortgat and Firestone Walker to compete more effectively in the years to come.”
“We are honored to have had the opportunity to advise Firestone Walker in this unique combination of two distinguished craft breweries,” said William Anderson, founder and CEO of First Beverage Group. “We believe strongly that both companies will benefit greatly from this partnership, and we are excited at what the future holds for these legacy brands as a result of their union.”
“Adam Firestone and David Walker have built one of the finest craft breweries and brands in the country,” added Townsend Ziebold, managing partner of First Beverage Group. “I am glad First Beverage could play a role in aligning Firestone Walker with Duvel Moortgat, a family owned business dedicated to long-term ownership of beers of the highest quality.”
In a recent statement, Firestone and Walker said, “The Firestone Walker and Duvel Moortgat families have combined forces to broaden their capacity and scope as brewers. Long admirers of each other’s beers, culture and breweries, the two teams saw the perfect fit for an alliance. The partnership will allow Firestone Walker to develop our capacity across the US in a conservative and thoughtful way by consummating a lifelong tie with this family owned international craft brewer, who continue their commitment to participating in the American Craft Revolution.”