Canada: Sleeman sale rumours make workers uneasy

Swirling rumours Sleeman Breweries is for sale had employees pondering an uncertain future on the day shift June 09. "It's scary. It's definitely scary. We don't know if we'll be kept or what the plans are for us," machine operator Jaime Perry said, The Guelph Mercury posted June 10.

Only several weeks ago, management told workers the company had no offer attractive enough to sell, she said. But since then, employees have heard continuing rumors of a possible sale.

Britain's SABMiller, Toronto-based Labatt Breweries and Montreal's Molson Coors are seen as possible buyers after Sleeman put itself in play by hiring consultants BMO Nesbitt Burns to seek a buyer or other strategic ways to cope with a volatile beer market.

Labatt is part of Belgian-based brewing giant InBev and Molson is a subsidiary of U.S.-headquartered Molson Coors Brewing.

The mood among workers is "not so good. I would say morale is very low and has been for quite a while," Perry said, referring in part to the Guelph brewer's rare loss of $800,000 in the first three months of this year.

But line supervisor Mark Wiggins was unconcerned about the rumours.

"I've been here 17 years and every 18 months there's a rumour of a takeover or buyout," Wiggins said. As to the mood inside the brewery, "I would say it's as well as it can be . . . business as usual," he said.

He dismissed a company sale or even a possible closure posited June 08 by an industry analyst as unlikely.

"I doubt (founder) John Sleeman will sell it. He's worked too long and too hard to get where we are," Wiggins said.

Sleeman quality assurance worker Ann Benstead, said the acquisition of Sleeman by a foreign owner would be a loss of Canadian heritage. "I guess that would be disappointing," Benstead said.

Industry analyst Peter Holden said the 700 employees at the local maker of premium craft beer and cheaper value brews would be better served by a foreign buyer. The analyst with Toronto's Veritas Investment Research argued a domestic company like Labatt or Molson, both with international parents, might be tempted to buy and close Sleeman operations and move production to its own plants.

The latest speculation was sparked by an unnamed source quoted in the Globe and Mail June 08 saying SABMiller isn't interested in buying Sleeman to break into the Canadian market.

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