Cerveceria Costa Rica purchases American Brewery

October 30^th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) The Costa Rican brewing company known as “La Cerveceria” announced the purchase of U.S. beer maker, North American Breweries Holdings (NAB), which has a portfolio of 10 brands of beer.

“North American Breweries (NAB) has been our main distributor of the (Costa Rican) Imperial Beer in the United States during the past years, and has obtained excellent results,” said Ramon Mendiola, general director of Florida Ice and Farm Co (FIFCO), of which Cerveceria Costa Rica is a holding.

According to FIFCO, NAB covers the most important segments in the United States. NAB’s portfolio includes imported beers such as the popular Canadian beer, Labatt; craft beers such as Magic Hat, Pyramid, Dundee, and authentic American beers such as Genesee and Brown Honey, as well as flavored malt drinks under the name Seagram’s Escapes.

The company’s headquarters are in Rochester, New York, and it has four production facilities in New York, Oregon, California and Vermont. It currently has 1,200 employees, all of which will continue to work for the company, as well as Richard Lozyniak, general director.

“Cerveceria Costa Rica has been very dedicated to the beer industry, and the relationship we’ve had with them as distributers of their successful beer ‘Imperial’, make them the perfect partners for our directive team, our employees and our wholesale network,” said Lozyniak.

The cost of the purchase was $338 million, paid in cash.  The purchase is subject to the defense notification requirements from the competitor Hart-Scott-Rodino and will be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.