Pabst Brewing to Be Sold

Pabst Brewing Co. is changing owners for the second time in about four years, as Russia’s Oasis Beverages and TSG Consumer Partners LLC linked up to buy the company behind American brews such as Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Pabst, which also sells brands such as Schlitz and Old Milwaukee, will remain based in Los Angeles, where it relocated after its previous sale. Eugene Kashper, Chairman of Oasis Beverages, will become Pabst’s CEO, TSG Consumer Partners said late Thursday.

Oasis Beverages, which Kashper founded in 2008, will get a majority stake in Pabst, while TSG will take a minority stake.

“Pabst Blue Ribbon is the quintessential American brand — it represents individualism, egalitarianism, and freedom of expression — all the things that make this country great,” Kashper said in a statement. “The opportunity to work with the company’s treasure trove of iconic brands, some of which I started my career selling, is a dream come true.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But a report Thursday by The Wall Street Journal said the deal would value Pabst at $700 million to $750 million, citing people familiar with the matter.

Private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co. paid $250 million to buy Pabst from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation in 2010. Brothers Evan and Daren Metropoulos have served as co-CEOs of Pabst, while their father, C. Dean Metropoulos, serves as the company’s chairman.

Oasis Beverages’ Kashper got his start in the beer business in 1994, with Stroh Brewery Co. He went on to manage brewing companies in Eastern European and former Soviet republics, and founded Oasis, an international beer and soft drink company, in 2008. Oasis operates in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Kashper said the firms plan to “invest meaningfully” in Pabst.

This article appeared in print in the September 22nd, 2014 edition of Hamodia.