Grolsch value dropped
Several interested parties have already come forward, including Irish liquor group C&C, American Molson Coors and Dutch Heineken. Previously, Molson Coors and SABMiller already struck a deal regarding its joint venture MillerCoors. That company is now Molson Coors’ full property, after paying 11 billion dollars (10.4 billion euro).
Experts believe SABMiller will face a hard time retrieving its Grolsch investment, made in 2008. Back then, the company paid 816 million dollars (771.5 million euro) to the Groen family, but the beer brand barely made any progress since then.
“When SABMiller bought the Dutch brand, I thought Grolsch would get an international expansion, but that never materialized. It has only been used to introduce Pilsener Urquell and Peroni onto the Dutch market and I feel that is a shame”, analyst Gerald Rijk told Dutch paper Telegraaf. Grolsch’ market share also dropped in the Netherlands.
