The shareholders are planning an almost RON300 million capital increase, RON68 million of which coming from the valuation of the trademarks.
The shareholders of Bergenbier, a company controlled by Canada’s Molson Coors, will meet in September to discuss the increase of its share capital by a debt for equity swap. Bergenbier owes RON299.6 million to StarBev Netherlands, the entity Molson Coors uses to operate Bergenbier and eight other companies in the region. The increase includes some of the brands of the brewer.
“The RON67.9 million accounts for the contribution in kind of shareholder StarBev Netherlands,” the Official Gazette reads.
The contribution in kind is actually trademarks registered with OSIM, Romania’s State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (Noroc, Hai Noroc si la mai mare, Bergenbier Bruna, Prietenii Stiu de ce), and with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – Noroc and Bergenbier, according to the Official Gazette. The company also registered trademarks in Benelux, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bergenbier’s brand portfolio also includes Staropramen, Stella Artois and Beck’s.
“This is the value of the trademarks StarBev Netherlands used as contribution in kind to the increase of the company’s share capital in 2014 and the amount is in line with the valuation at the time,” the officials of the company say.
This amount does not reflect the value of all the trademarks of Bergenbier S.A. at the moment and no such appraisal has been conducted, they added.
This is the first time data about the value of beer brands becomes publicly available, as companies in the industry keep such information under lock and key.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)