Coopers Take Over

[PostModern]

I don't think it's the brewing hardware LN want. I thought it would be to acquire the brand and to remove any quality competition so that the next generation of Australian beer drinkers will think bland is the only way beer can be.

Good point about the extract operation. They sell a lot of kits OS, too.

 

[Kramer]

I just heard on the news on the radio that coopers is telling their shareholders not to sell their shares at the moment!

 

[user 1153]

and in even more up to date news

http://afr.com/articles/2005/09/02/1125302719444.html

part here...
"Coopers' court win against Lion
Sep 02 11:13
AAP

The board of Coopers Brewery will mee
t soon to consider the implications of a court judgment on Friday morning regarding a hostile takeover bid by Lion Nathan.

In the South Australian Supreme Court, Justice John Perry ruled in favour of Coopers' bid to remove a clause from its constitution that gave the trans-Tasman brewer first right to buy its shares."

 

[Doc]

Looks like LN already own part of Coopers.

Coopers is a privately held company that has just 117 shareholders.

Lion Nathan already holds a 19.9 percent stake in Coopers, and said some of its other shareholders have approached Lion Nathan recently regarding an offer.

Will be interesting to see what the Coopers board thinks is in the best interest of the company.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Kai]

OK I'm going to be the lone dissenter. I couldn't give a fat rat's arse if Lion Nathan bought out Coopers. I don't think their beers are all that special. In the late 80's and early 90's I drank loads of Coopers at the Austral and the Exeter, but this had more to do with being a uni student trying to be different to everyone rather than a real desire for the beer. We were just rebeling against West End and Southwark drinkers.

Now I basically avoid Coopers, however recently I tried both the Pale Ale and the Stout. I thought the Pale Ale was thin, lacking malt, too sweet and under bittered. The Stout also lacked a lot. It didn't have enough roasty notes and was also thin and lacking a decent malt profile. Their so called Mild is even worse. I've also had their Vintage off tap. What a cash in this was. The bottled version is not bad, but the keg version is again a thin watery poor imitation.

If Lion Nathan take Coppers over and change the beers, so what, it's not like their anything worth saving.

Coopers = over rated.

Cheers
MAH

[post="75038"][/post]​

I was a regular drinker of Coopers beers before I got settled into the home brewing caper. I will still hit the pale ale tap when I'm out on the town nowadays, but it's not the favourite it used to be.

I can't really comment on whether or not it has gone downhill, as my perceptions have changed so much over the past few years. However, consistent between then and now is that I do think Coopers Pale remains a superior beer to its other megabrewery equivalents.

I agree that it's a bland beer, but I still do get nice flavours from it, and the flavours vary. I don't mind a bland beer, what I don't like is a bad beer. I've had bad coopers beers, but never to the same regular consistency the bad beers I've had from other domestic megabreweries. I don't notice any subleties of flavour in West End, for example.

I really don't know whether a takeover would be a bad thing for Coopers beers, or whether they would change at all. What I don't like is the notion of more beer being controlled by fewer entities, and I'd be dropping my already dwindled consumption of Coopers to zero if they were bought out, just on that principle.

 

[Boots]

Well said Kai. Pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[Sean]

I really don't know whether a takeover would be a bad thing for Coopers beers, or whether they would change at all.

The beer might stay the same in the short term, but I doubt it would in the long term. Large breweries never manage to sustain an interest in quality for long - a quick look at the brewery takeovers in the UK and Europe shows that.

 

[voota]

OK I'm going to be the lone dissenter. I couldn't give a fat rat's arse if Lion Nathan bought out Coopers. I don't think their beers are all that special. In the late 80's and early 90's I drank loads of Coopers at the Austral and the Exeter, but this had more to do with being a uni student trying to be different to everyone rather than a real desire for the beer. We were just rebeling against West End and Southwark drinkers.

Now I basically avoid Coopers, however recently I tried both the Pale Ale and the Stout. I thought the Pale Ale was thin, lacking malt, too sweet and under bittered. The Stout also lacked a lot. It didn't have enough roasty notes and was also thin and lacking a decent malt profile. Their so called Mild is even worse. I've also had their Vintage off tap. What a cash in this was. The bottled version is not bad, but the keg version is again a thin watery poor imitation.

If Lion Nathan take Coppers over and change the beers, so what, it's not like their anything worth saving.

Coopers = over rated.

Cheers
MAH

[post="75038"][/post]​

Piss off that the stout is thin. It is imho the fullest beer on the Australian market these days. Yes, coopers is becoming more and more trendy and mainstream. But the stout is a winner.

 

[Murray]

OK I'm going to be the lone dissenter. I couldn't give a fat rat's arse if Lion Nathan bought out Coopers. I don't think their beers are all that special. In the late 80's and early 90's I drank loads of Coopers at the Austral and the Exeter, but this had more to do with being a uni student trying to be different to everyone rather than a real desire for the beer. We were just rebeling against West End and Southwark drinkers.

Now I basically avoid Coopers, however recently I tried both the Pale Ale and the Stout. I thought the Pale Ale was thin, lacking malt, too sweet and under bittered. The Stout also lacked a lot. It didn't have enough roasty notes and was also thin and lacking a decent malt profile. Their so called Mild is even worse. I've also had their Vintage off tap. What a cash in this was. The bottled version is not bad, but the keg version is again a thin watery poor imitation.

If Lion Nathan take Coppers over and change the beers, so what, it's not like their anything worth saving.

Coopers = over rated.

Cheers
MAH

[post="75038"][/post]​

Piss off that the stout is thin. It is imho the fullest beer on the Australian market these days. Yes, coopers is becoming more and more trendy and mainstream. But the stout is a winner.

[post="75154"][/post]​

Agreed, it is far and away the best Australian stout I've had the pleasure of trying.

 

[Gulf Brewery]

Had a quick scan of the "Advertiser" this morning. Apparently the Lion Nathan Brewery at Thebarton is only 50% utilised. Would be interesting to see happen to the Coopers brewery if LN were to succeed as the Coopers one has a lot of new brewing gear. I think the chance of LN succeeding is not high.

Cheers
Pedro

PS Anyone want to do a bulk homebrew batch on LN gear? I am sure that with their excess capacity we could go in there as a group and do a bath

 

[tangent]

I heard that a private school in ADL has almost 20,000 shares in Coops and that the massive extra windfall would be too good to resist.

This is going to be more exciting than any federal election. I can't wait to see what happens, but I have a squeemish feeling about it. Actually the same feeling I had when they moved from leafy Leabrook, kinda sick and a bit sad. But kinda proud of the local family company at the same time.

 

[user 384]

Piss off that the stout is thin. It is imho the fullest beer on the Australian market these days. Yes, coopers is becoming more and more trendy and mainstream. But the stout is a winner.

[post="75154"][/post]​

Voota and Murray

I drank the stout off tap recently and it was thin as. Haven't had a bottled version for a while so can't comment. I think Mountain Goat Surefoot Stout craps all over Coopers STout. Now that beer has some body!

And I agree with Kai that Coopers is better than the other Adelaide megaswill, but when the bar is set so low, you don't have to jump too high to take the gold.

Cheers
MAH

 

[GMK]

IMHO I think the SHeaf Stout and Southwark Stout are better.

Flame Suit on...

 

[warrenlw63]

GMK,

No need for flamesuit. IMO Southwark Stout is great stuff. Personally I prefer it to Coopers.

Warren -

 

[Bobby]

sheaf, no way. but yeah i prefer southwark too.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Coopers hanging in there...

Weblink

 

[Doc]

And they are off to court.
Full story here

Beers,
Doc

Brewery's takeover bid goes to court

09.09.05
By Michelle Dacruz

Lion Nathan, Australia's second-largest brewer, yesterday lodged a formal appeal to the Supreme Court of South Australia in an effort to preserve pre-emptive rights to acquire shares in rival Coopers Brewery.

Last week Coopers, the largely family-owned South Australian brewer, won its case to have those rights removed.

In its much anticipated appeal, Lion Nathan claims it has the right to buy Coopers shares when they are offered for sale and not acquired by existing investors.

Lion Nathan argues that it was granted those rights in 1995 when its South Australian Brewing unit agreed to exchange its 19.9 per cent stake in Coopers for the rights.

 

[Murray]

No worries MAH and other people with different opinions. I haven't tried the Stout on tap, so I can't comment on that. As for it not being as good as it was, since when is anything

 

[Gough]

No worries MAH and other people with different opinions. I haven't tried the Stout on tap, so I can't comment on that. As for it not being as good as it was, since when is anything

[post="76212"][/post]​

I still prefer the Cooper's and the Sheaf to the Southwark. My last bottle of Southwark (2 months ago) was so sweet I almost couldn't finish it Maybe I got a dud... Goat Stout isn't bad, but I still have a soft spot for the Cooper's...

Shawn.

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

IMHO I think the SHeaf Stout and Southwark Stout are better.

I agree! I prefer Sheaf over Coopers, i don't think I've had Southwark before ......better go get some