Carlsberg has taken a 20% stake in the craft brewer Mikkeller. The purpose is reportedly to improve the distribution and availability of the beers in Denmark.
Founder Mikkel Bjergso remains in control but Carlsberg has bought some shares from the private equity group Orkila who, again, reportedly are the second largest shareholder.
The interest of Big Beer in craft beer companies in recent times has ended with a Big Beer buy out but there is a more immediate issue.
Mikkeller has faced allegations of a toxic workplace culture having grown quickly as craft beer company without an appropriate governance framework. It remains unclear how far these issues have been addressed and if they have been resolved..
However the position with Big Beer is different. The key issue with Big Beer is that it is far more interested in business than it is in beer. It does have a plus side. Carlsberg like any large multinational company has to be seen to be behaving itself corporately and ethically (whether it actually does or not is another matter but it needs to have statements and statistics for the annual report). That usually means recognising trade unions and having agreements on workplace practices and cultures.
One wonders what Carlsberg has done to check this out at Mikkeller
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