USA: Latrobe Brewing finalizes sale of Rolling Rock plant
Pennsylvania Latrobe Brewing Co. announced a final agreement to sell its idled Rolling Rock plant to a brewer that plans to restart operations and increase production, The Associated Press Communicated on September 29th. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
City Brewing Co., of La Crosse, Wisconsin, had signed a letter of intent to purchase the plant in June. Chief operating officer Kenneth Yartz said Thursday he was pleased to complete the deal.
"There remain a number of details to finalize before operations can begin, but we are optimistic that we can continue to work with city, Municipal Authority and the state to overcome these challenges," Yartz said in a statement.
About 155 unionized brewers and bottlers ratified a two-year contract with City Brewing in July. The agreement expires Aug. 1, 2008.
The Latrobe plant has been closed since the end of July, when it stopped making Rolling Rock beer. Brewery owner InBev USA, whose parent company is based in Belgium, sold the famed western Pennsylvania brand to St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch for $82 million (€64.5 million). Anheuser-Busch, the nation's largest brewer, now makes Rolling Rock in Newark, New Jersey. The Latrobe plant was not part of the deal.
"We believe that City Brewery will offer a solid future and strong growth opportunities to both union and salaried employees in Latrobe, and that the company can become an important member of the greater Latrobe community," InBev USA President Doug Corbett said in a statement.
City Brewing is working to increase water treatment capacity at the plant to handle planned production increases. State and local officials met with City Brewing executives earlier this month to discuss the issue.
City Brewing has said it wants to produce 2 million barrels of product annually, 700,000 barrels more than the plant's capacity.
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