Eastside Distilling buys bottling firm for $5.2m

Portland-based Eastside Distilling has acquired packaging firm Craft Canning + Bottling in a deal worth US$5.2 million.

Eastside Distilling has purchased Craft Canning + Bottling for US$5.2 million

The multi-million-dollar deal will see Craft Canning + Bottling combine operations with Eastside’s Mother Lode packing subsidiary. The move will allow the company to focus on the fast-growing ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail and canned wine sectors.

Grover Wickersham, chairman and CEO of Eastside Distilling, said: “We are excited to bring the operations of Craft Canning + Bottling into the Eastside family. Owen Lingley, chairman, Todd Garrett, president, and the rest of the Craft team have a culture of hard work and accomplishment, having built a fast-growing business from scratch, with negligible outside capital.

“Craft has had profitable double-digit growth since beginning operations six years ago. They have become a trusted partner to beer, wine and cider producers in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado, with finished production of more than 17 million cans in 2018.”

The US$5.2 million paid by Eastside in the purchase is a combination of US$2 million in cash, debt acquisition of US$800,000 and 338,212 shares of common stock valued at US$7.20 per share – a total of approximately US$2,435,000.

Craft Canning + Bottling has the capacity to can more than 3.8 million gallons per year, while it also operates three six-head bottling lines for glass.

Lingley said: “With Craft’s operating in mobile canning and bottling, and Eastside having a well-equipped fixed facility in Portland, we can leverage the overlapping capabilities of both. It will be exciting to add marketing capability, as well as equipment, and reach out for new business in high growth areas like wine canning, cocktail RTDs and CBD drinks.”