PABST BLUE RIBBON GOES FOR BIG BUCKS

FOR THE last decade-plus, Pabst has become famous for being both chic and cheap. But the iconic American beer is being sold to a Russian brewer. C. Dean Metropoulos will sell Pabst Brewing Co. to Oasis Beverages and TSG Consumer Partners in a deal that values the brewery at $7OO million – nearly three times what Metropoulos paid for it. Oasis will be a majority shareholder, while TSG buys in for a minority stake. The deal is the latest in what is becoming a very active beer deal market. A wave of mergers and acquisitions several years ago reshuffled the beer landscape into just a handful of global titans, including SABMiller and AB InBev – both products of megamergers. In 2O1O, Metropoulos’ investment fund, C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., bought 17O-year-old Pabst, which also brews Schlitz and Old Milwaukee, from Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation for $25O million. Metropoulos’ sons, Evan and Daren, who have served as co-chief executives of Pabst over the past four years, will step down and be replaced by Oasis’ Kashper. The company’s headquarters will remain in Los Angeles.