This morning, MiBiz is reporting that Grand Rapids-based Founders Brewing has increased its partnership with Spanish family-owned Mahou-San Miguel. What began as a minority 30% ownership agreement announced in December 2014, has been expanded to majority ownership of 90% of the company with Founders Brewing co-founders Dave Engbers and Mike Stevens each retaining a 5-percent stake in the brewery.

After Mahou’s initial minority investment with Founders Brewing in December 2014, they added Avery Brewing to their portfolio just three years later. The original alignment between Avery and Mahou centered around wanting to bring the 25-year old US brewery a greater international footprint and assistance with strategic and financial growth following the move to a new $27 million faculty in February 2015. Earlier this year, in April 2019, Mahou also increased its investment in Avery, growing its investment from 30-percent to a 70-percent ownership.

Like Avery, Founders has had its own share of explosive growth. Over the past 10 years, Founders has seen its most dramatic growth from the production of just 6,100 barrels of beer in 2007, to nearly 56,179 in 2018. They have also expanded distribution across all 50 states and internationally. This significant surge in production was made possible with the move to their current 200,000-square-foot Grand Rapids facility in 2008. Founders also employs the use another 190,000-square foot off-site production and barrel-aging facility known as “The Barrel House”, as well as a nearby gypsum cave located 90 feet below ground, that houses some 7,000 barrels, accounting for approximately 16 Founders brands. Additionally, in 2017, Founders opened a 14,000 square-foot taproom and brewhouse facility located in the Lower Cass corridor of Detroit, at 456 Charlotte St.

The partnership between Mahou, Founders and Avery has also bridged a more strategic partnership between the two former American craft breweries. With Founders’ reach extending fully to the West-coast, they’ve been able to employ Avery’s assistance in contract brewing their signature All-Day IPA at their Boulder facility.

As MiBiz Reports, the original agreement between Founders and Mahou includes a provision for the Spanish-owned brewery to acquire the remaining stake of the company beginning in the 5th year of the partnership. In today’s deal, Mahou has bought out the remaining minority shareowners leaving Mahou, Engbers and Stevens as the only remaining shareholders of the company.