After Fullers & Greene King, Marstons set to lose independence with joint venture
Capitalism tends to monopoly is a phrase I expect few readers of my blog will be surprised to see me use but the joint venture between Carlsberg UK and Marstons announced today underlines the point.
While the current crisis may have been a spur to get on with it the discussions seem to date back to at least Q3 of 2019/20 (i.e. the late autumn)
The Marstons PR is a bit more forthcoming noting that it will focus on its pubs business suggesting that Carlsberg will lead on breweries (they have one in Northampton). Whether the synergies mentioned will be brewery closures and job losses will no doubt become clear over time. Roger Protz has suggested that excess capacity might threaten the Jennings and Eagle (Bedford) breweries and raised concerns about the future of the historic union brewing system at Burton, currently producing Marstons Pedigree
These kind of things are not complete these days without a slide presentation and the link to the investor presentation is here. There are a restrained 18 slides with slide 8 perhaps of particular interest.
It represents the loss of independence of another key member of the British Beerage, after Fullers brewery sale to Asahi and Greene King’s sale to a Hong Kong property company.
The JV has some similarities to the Fullers sale in the sense that Marstons has kept its pub estate out of it, although clearly with a beer supply deal with Carlsberg, but unlike Fullers will still have a signficant although minority stake in the breweries
One might also speculate that it represents a further blow to the historic configuration of the Tory Party of which breweries were an important part. Ralph Findlay of Marstons who will be non-Executive Chair of the new company was one of a hundred business leaders who signed a letter at the 2015 Election arguing for a Tory vote.
Beyond that of course we are mainly here for the beer. Carlsberg have 60% of the joint venture which suggests they will call the shots as will the detail that Marston’s workers will TUPE to the new company.
No doubt there are complex reasons why the arrangement is being structured in the way it has been, rather than Carlsberg UK buying out Marstons.
It reflects certainly the strengthening of Big Beer on a world scale.
In terms of craft a footnote is that London Fields, bought by Carlsberg will now be part of the JV and certainly in theory on the bar in Marstons pubs. Some well known regional brewery names such as Thwaites, Ringwood, Charles Well and Youngs are also on a journey..
[…] – formed only in 2008 and now, following the prospective sale of Marston’s, already the largest independent brewer in the UK – isn’t to everyone’s tastes. […]