Kalmanovitz Renews Offer to Buy All of Pabst Stock
In a surprise move, California brewer Paul Kalmanovitz on Monday renewed his tender offer of $10 a share for all 6.36 million outstanding shares of ailing Pabst Brewing Co.’s stock.
The Kalmanovitz offer, launched by his Vancouver, Wash.-based S&P; Co., was made one month after Pabst agreed to be acquired by La Crosse, Wis.-based G. Heileman Brewing Co. for $11 a share, or about $70 million.
To satisfy Justice Department concerns and to end about two years of fierce competition for control of Pabst’s assets, the agreement provided that Heileman would sell Pabst’s Tumwater, Wash., brewery and its Olympia, Hamm’s and Olde English 800 brands to S&P.;
However, that deal was held up last Dec. 17, when Stroh Brewery Co. of Detroit and Christian Schmidt Brewing Co. of Philadelphia filed suit in U.S. District Court in Detroit, challenging the sale on antitrust grounds.
“The acquisition of Pabst by Heileman,” Stroh spokesman Bruce Abrams said Monday, “gives them too big a share (of the beer market) in the Midwest.”
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati refused to allow completion of the sale until the antitrust case is resolved. A trial has been scheduled for March 28, he said.
“Our indications are,” Abrams added, “that acquisition of Pabst by Kalmanovitz (would) not trigger any (antitrust) violations in any market.”
Kalmanovitz, who owns Falstaff, Pearl and General brewing companies, could not be reached for comment. But Frank Pelisek, a Pabst attorney, said a review of Kalmanovitz’s tender offer documents showed that, if that offer is completed, Kalmanovitz would keep the Western assets “he wants desperately” and sell the Midwest operations to Heileman “when they can lawfully buy it.”
However, he added, “if Heileman loses (the antitrust suit), then Kalmanovitz gets the whole package for $10 a share.”
Pelisek declined to reveal his company’s position on the matter. “We have a contractual agreement with Heileman to remain neutral,” he said.
