I read that InBev has to sell "Labatt USA" as part of the Budwiser
deal. What exactly is "Labatt USA"?. Do they plan to actually brew
Labatt in the US or is it just distribution of the Canadian beer? What
does the future look like for Labatt in the US.?

Char1ie wrote:
> I read that InBev has to sell "Labatt USA" as part of the Budwiser
> deal. What exactly is "Labatt USA"?. Do they plan to actually brew
> Labatt in the US or is it just distribution of the Canadian beer? What
> does the future look like for Labatt in the US.?

"Labatt USA" is merely the importer of Labatt beer (and some other
beers, mostly Mexican). For a brief time, they also imported Beck's and
many other of InBev's European brands, but most of those were later
given to Anheuser-Busch's subsidiary, the Import Brands Alliance.
Labatt USA recently relocated to Buffalo NY (previously it was in
Connecticut) and, by most accounts, employs only 20-24 people total.

The Feds, in the US, approved the InBev's later purchase of A-B on the
condition that InBev sell Labatt USA (NOT the Canadian brewery, just the
import company) and can only supply the new owner of Labatt USA with
their Canadian brewed Labatt for 3 years, at which time they'd have to
license the brand to another brewery.

It appears as if an investment group, KSP, is about to buy both Labatt
USA and High Falls (formerly known as Genesee), so they will own the
rights to brew and distribute Labatt beer in the US and will have a
brewery, with lots of extra capacity, to brew it- right in the middle of
the largest market for Labatt beer is the US- upstate NY.