BROUWERIJ MARTENS CONSOLIDATES STRUCTURE FOR FURTHER GROWTH AND INTERNATIONALISATION
Bocholt/Hasselt 30 June 2009. LRM has granted a subordinated loan of 7 million EUR to the Brouwerij Martens group. The extra resources will be used to fund further growth and internationalisation.
Brouwerij Martens is one of the largest Belgian breweries in terms of volume. The general public knows them from their own brands ‘Martens Pils’ and ‘Sezoens’. These beers, however, only represent 15% of the group turnover, because most beer is produced under private labels for various supermarket chains and discount formulas.
Innovation
Martens has a long tradition of using innovation to fuel expansion. In 2003, the group was the first to launch beer in PET bottles and production commenced at the ultra modern brewery in Kaulille in 2007. This brewery has a brewing room with continuous production and a state-of-the-art fermentation and filter installation. They currently produce approximately one million PET bottles every day.
Export
Martens Brewery has recently moved into the growth market in Asia. Martens built an identical new brewery in Suzhou, 150 km west of Shanghai, China, together with the Taiwanese group Far Eastern, and launched their own pils on the Chinese market in the autumn of 2008. In China, this pils is known as “Martens 1758”, a reference to the year in which the Martens brewery was established. The beer market in Europe is shrinking and the move into the Chinese market is necessary in order to maintain a healthy growth.
LRM
Brouwerij Martens turned to the investment company LRM to help realise these plans for expansion and further internationalisation. LRM has provided a subordinated loan of 7 million euros to the group’s holding. These extra funds will enable Brouwerij Martens to finance operating capital requirements, additional investments and future acquisitions.
More information
Jan Martens
Delegate Manager
Brouwerij Martens
T+32 11 44 82 55
Jan.martens@martens.be
Jeffrey Alenus
Commercial director
LRM
T +32 11 24 68 19
j.alenus@lrm.be
Alexandra Mannaerts
Investment manager
LRM
T +32 11 24 68 44
a.mannaerts@lrm.be
About the Martens Group
With 250 years of experience in the Belgian beer market, Brouwerij Martens – the oldest brewery in Limburg – is one of the most dynamic breweries in Belgium.
For over 250 years – since 1758 – eight generations of Martens brewers have developed the Bocholter brewery into the large, modern and healthy brewery that it is today. This, however, has not affected their time-honoured tradition of brewing beer.
Today, Brouwerij Martens commercialises 17 of its own brands, including Martens Pils, Sezoens and Limburgse Witte. In addition to its own brands, the group produces 20 beers under Private Label and exports them to more than 25 countries.
The total sales add up to > 100 million EUR