Liefmans

I heard That they were being taken over by moortgat. The Marketing director has a family connection to the original owners of leifmans.

does anyone know what happened with Liefman's association (I thought ownership by!) Riva (Dentergem Wit, etc) - I'd read that for years Riva were brewing Liefman's wort at their own plant & only fermenting at Oudenaarde. Did they maybe craftily keep the 2 co.s as separate, so if things got bad, they could go bankrupt, leaving Riva safe & (ahem) blameless? cheers, MikeMcG

PS there's some new-ish & slightly older news online - _____________________________________________________________

Published: 18-04-2008

Written by: Graham Holter

Hopes are high that Liefmans could resume brewing under new ownership after a Belgian court placed the company into the hands of liquidators last week.

The brewer, famous for its paper-wrapped fruit beers, collapsed at the end of last year five years after being bought by private equity investors.

UK partner James Clay, which has been the main supplier of Liefmans for around 15 years, lost around 100 on and off-trade listings after brewing was suspended and supplies ran out.

The company has about a month's stock but faces uncertain times as bidders line up to take control of the Belgian brewer. Duvel Moortgat, which does not have a fruit beer in its portfolio, is thought to be the most likely new owner.

James Clay managing director Ian Clay said: "We've been getting about

Although sales of Liefmans were strong, Clay said investors appeared to have run out of working capital partly due to unexpectedly high costs of complying with new water treatment regulations. ______________________________________________________________ & _________________________________________________________________

According to a company statement, Liefmans' receivers have allowed Deuvel to use production on a temporary basis, on condition that Duvel prepares an offer to acquire all or part of Liefmans' operations.

Liefmans was declared bankrupt in December. __________________________________________________________________

The investment group that bought Liefmans actually bought all of Riva/Dentergem, and renamed it Liefmans Brewery Group.

Interesting that the article below claims that D-M has no fruit beer in its lineup. It sort of does, but only because it owns Ommegang Brewery in the USA; Ommegang's Three Philosophers ale has fruit in. Otherwise, I'd think Liefmans would be a good addition to D-M's line, and it would be a way to preserve the Liefmans line. Whether that would also mean keeping Dentergems Wit around is another matter; IIRC, D-M co-markets the Steendonk Wit already.

D-M also has strong presence in export markets; Duvel and Maredsous beers aren't hard to find in the USA, and I think do all right in the UK (and Maredsous are bottle-conditioned, to add in an ObRealAle component).

Out of Steendonk or Dentergems do you know which is the bigger seller? (I would think of Dentergems first, but don't know how their sales are).

I would be happy if DM brought Ommegang beers were exported to Europe (UK in particular) but I doubt it'll happen any time soon.

I do now remember that Riva renamed themselves Leifmans (shades of Banks/W&D's renaming to Marston's - I find it a bit distasteful, tho - "we've bought you out, now we're going to steal your identity!") so I take it that means that the Liefman's Group is what has gone into bankruptcy then - no-one in the press I'd read had made that clear to me.

I know that for hardcore beerlovers Liefman's is a bit sweet, etc, but I've still enjoyed them recently & I'm a sucker for a good story so MJ's (RIP) writing about ex-ballet dancer Madame Rose Blanquaert-Mercx (sp.?) in her 70s, jumping into copper fermenters in her clogs is just great stuff! (I know - I have MadameRose-tinted spectacles!) cheers MikeMcG