The St. Louis Brewery, brewers of Schlafly beer, has reached an agreement to sell 60% ownership of the business to a group of local investors.
Co-founder Tom Schlafly will retain a 20 percent stake and serve as chairman of the board and his partner and co-founder Dan Kopman will retain 10 percent of the company and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations as CEO. Eligible Schlafly employees will be able to purchase parts of the remaining 10 percent of the company.
The partners made it public awhile ago that they were looking for an opportunity to sell the business while maintaining independence.
The investment group is led by John Lemkemeier and Wesley Jones, co-founders and managing partners of St. Louis private-equity firm Sage Capital, and Spencer Finney, a partner at Sage Capital. When the sale closes, the brewery’s board will be Schlafly, Kopman, Lemkemeier, Jones and Finney.
Other investors include David Schlafly, who is Tom Schlafly’s first cousin, David Anderson, Bob Balk, Parker Condie Jr., Bob Glatz, Bob Hermann Jr., Tom Hillman, Craig Hoagland, Bruce Olson and Bill Polk.
The St. Louis Brewery last week celebrated its 20th anniversary. It produced 42,000 barrels of Schlafly beer in 2011, a 20 percent growth in volume from the previous year. The brewery was the 42nd largest U.S. craft brewery by volume in 2010, the most recent year for which data are available.
