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Belgian brewery Brouwerij Martens has announced its acquisition of United Dutch Breweries from European investment company Gimv.

United Dutch Breweries (UDB)’s brewing heritage dates back to 1538. The Dutch brewer, headquartered in Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands, brews and ships its beer portfolio globally, with established presence in more than 100 markets.

Since receiving investment from Gimv Consumer in 2015, the group has evolved from a predominantly trade and volume-oriented beer company into a business focused more on growth and innovation. It launched its ‘Easy Brewing System’ in West Africa last year, a new technical solution designed to provide a more innovative and sustainable way to open up local beer markets around the world.

Based in the Belgian province of Limburg, family-owned brewery Brouwerij Martens was founded in 1758. It produces and sells more than four million hectolitres of beer across more than 100 countries worldwide.

In a statement announcing the deal, the financial terms of which were undisclosed, Gimv said that both companies will strengthen each other’s further growth and unlock unique synergies for the businesses.

Danny Dresselaerts, CEO of Brouwerij Martens, said: “We are extremely proud to have been able to realise this transaction together with Gimv and UDB, and consider the strategic cooperation with UDB as an important milestone in the further development and strengthening of our joint global business”.

He added: “Moreover, with strong brands such as Oranjeboom and Royal Dutch, and a broad international sales network, UDB will give our growth ambitions special acceleration”.

Tom Verhaegen, CEO of UDB, commented: “The combination of Brouwerij Martens and UDB creates enormous opportunities for all our stakeholders, not least for our customers and employees. After all, we combine the strong commercial, branding and route to market competencies of UDB [with] the production and supply chain competencies of Brouwerij Martens, which are simply excellent in terms of quality, flexibility and innovation power.”

Top image: © United Dutch Breweries

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