"Ironic is the fact that the more interested I get in beer, the less I drink of it. In my younger days I drank a lot, but was not ready to learn about good and great beer."
Are you a new reader, then What happened to Øfabrikken
This is just in from ølfabrikken. Translated by yours truely. The original danish statement is in the comments to this post.
Dear Shareholder,
Enclosed is a detailed presentation of the case.
The text below has been presented to the Dicretor of Gourmtbryggeriet , Tom Sans Kristensen and his corrections has been included. The correspondence regarding thins can be forwarded upon request.
I tne fall of 2005 GB contacted us the first time with an offer to buy Ølfabrikken. We respectfully declined, because we had just finished an expansion of the brewery in Tisvildeleje.
Rather quickly it became apparent that our capacity sill was too small. It was difficult to get a clear response from the Helsinge municipality whether we were allowed to further expand the brewery in order to comply with the ever increasing demand. In that context Martin and I began to look for a strong partner in the winther of 2007, that could help us to keep Ølfabrikken going.
There were several bigger breweries that were interested in working with us. After quite some considerations we ended up with BG. A private limited company "Bryggeriet Ølfabrikken", owned 50/50 by the "old" Ølfabrikken and GB was created. The intent was to split the revenue equally between the two owners.
The combination of the Ølfabrikken brand and the distribution of GB seemed to work well. A series of rather big orders was generated within a short period of time and a decent profit was within grasp. At this point GB begins to show interest in increasing their ownership in the new private limited company by buying the part that Martin and I represented. At that point he had a wish to leave the company.
December 2007 we have a meeting where the sale is discussed. During the meeting we could not entirely agree upon some of the conditions of the purchase. GB then jubilantly states that: "We can just wait for your bankruptcy and buy the remains from the bank". Unfortunately that was a correct observation. Ølfabrikken was entirely dependant upon the income from the private limited company, which contained the brand and the customers. The private limited company had its production in the brewery in Roskilde, that is 100% controlled by GB, thus easily being able to cut off any income to Ølfabrikken until it was down on it's knees.
However it is not until January 2008 that the full extent becomes apparent. GB does not only with to increase their ownership part, but want everything!
I try to introduce different semi desperate solutions, including 6 months of work, on my part, without pay and GB getting the lion's share without paying for it. In return GB had to leave some small part to the founders of the original company. There is no willingness to negotiate and I choose to resign.
Subsequently BG has tried to defend themselvs in a series of staments by leaving the impression that they were a rescuing angel and in reality saved Ølfabrikken. That is not correct. In the spring, when we were looking for new partners, our operations generated profit. The dept in connection with funding of the company was comparable with other Danish breweries of the same size and age. Meanwhile we were in a lucrative situation with a internationally recognised microbrew brand and a loyal customer base.
That said, we could easily have been in the same situation as we are now - there is always a risk in running a small business. Hovever it is 100% certain that we respectfully would have reclined GB's offer had we known their intention.
Best wishes
Christian Skovdal Andersen
3 comments:
Kære anpartshaver,
Som lovet hermed en detaljeret gennemgang af sagen.
Nedenstående har været forlagt Gourmetbryggeriets direktør Tom Sand Kristensen og hans rettelser er indføjet. Korrespondance i den forbindelse kan hvis det ønskes fremsendt.
I efteråret 2005 kontaktede GB os første gang med et købstilbud. Vi takkede pænt nej, da vi på det tidspunkt netop havde udvidet bryggeriet i Tisvildeleje.
Det stod dog hurtigt klart at kapaciteten fortsat var for lille. Det var også svært at få en klar udmelding fra Helsinge kommune om hvorvidt vi kunne få lov til at udvide bryggeriet, så vi kunne begynde at efterkomme den konstant stigende efterspørgsel. Set i lyset heraf begyndte Martin og jeg I vinteren 2007, at se os om efter en stærk partner, som kunne hjælpe os med at bringe Ølfabrikken videre.
Der var flere støre bryggerier der var interesserede i at arbejde sammen med os. Efter en del overvejelser endte det dog med at vi valgte GB. Et fælles anpartsselskab "Bryggeriet Ølfabrikken", ejet 50/50 af det "gamle" Ølfabrikken og GB blev stiftet. Tanken var naturligvis at overskuddet fra det fælles selskab skulle fordeles ligeligt mellem de to ejere.
Kombinationen af Ølfabrikkens brand og GB's distributionsnet viste sig at fungere godt. I løbet af kort tid kom der en række meget store ordrer og et pænt overskud er i sigte. På det tidspunkt begynder GB at vise interesse for at øge sin ejerandel af det fælles selskab ved at købe den del af det fælles selskab som min kompagnon Martins del af det gamle selskab repræsenterede. Han ville på det tidspunkt gerne ud af virksomheden.
I december 2007 holder vi et møde hvor salget diskuteres. Da vi på et tidspunkt under mødet ikke kan blive helt enige om nogle af betingelserne ved overtagelsen smider GB trumfkortet på bordet: ”Vi kan jo bare vente indtil I går konkurs og købe det af banken”. Det var desværre helt rigtigt set. Ølfabrikken var helt afhængig af indtægter fra det fælles selskab, der jo havde mærket og kunderne. Det fælles selskab producerede på bryggeriet i Roskilde, der er 100 % kontrolleret af GB, der således nemt ville kunne afskære Ølfabrikken fra indtægter indtil virksomheden var helt i knæ.
Det er dog først i januar 2008 at det fulde omfang bliver klart. GB vil ikke bare øge deres ejerandel. De vil have det hele!
Jeg prøver at præsentere forskellige halvdesperate løsningsforlag, der bl.a. Indebærer 6 måneders gratis arbejdskraft fra min side og at GB får broderparten af selskabet uden at betale for det, hvis de blot vil efterlade en mindre del til os der startede selskabet. Men der er ikke noget at gøre og jeg vælger derfor at indgive min opsigelse.
GB har efterfølgende prøvet at forsvare sig i en række meddelelser ved at give indtryk af at de kom som en frelsende engel og redede Ølfabrikken. Det er ikke korrekt. Da vi i foråret ledte efter samarbejdspartnere kørte vi med overskud på driften. Den gæld, der var oparbejdet i forbindelse med at selskabet var stiftet, var sammenlignelig med andre danske bryggerier af samme størrelse og alder. Samtidig stod vi i en meget fordelagtig situation med et af internationalt anerkendt mikroøls mærke og en loyal kundekreds.
Dermed ikke være sagt, at vi ikke kunne risikere at være endt i den samme situation som nu – der er altid en risiko forbundet med at drive en lille virksomhed. Det er dog 100 % sikkert at vi havde sagt pænt nej tak til Gourmetbryggeriet endnu en gang, hvis vi havde kendt deres planer.
Med venlig hilsen,
Christian Skovdal Andersen
This is pure BS.
@selfhelp: In what way is it BS? Maybe you could provide us with a few sentences to enlighten us? I would love to get another perspective.
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