Gilbert + Tobin has advised Australian beer company Fermentum on its proposed acquisition by Lion.

The Fermentum Group was founded in Byron Bay in 2008 by Jamie Cook, Brad Rogers and Ross Jurisich and owns the Byron Bay headquartered beer brand Stone & Wood (with its flagship Original Pacific Ale and Green Coast Lager products) and Melbourne’s Two Birds Brewing, seltzer brand Sunly, and Fixation Brewing, among others.

G+T’s market-leading M&A team was led by Partner Tim Gordon together with lawyers Sam Jaffray and Emily Fanning.  Competition + Regulatory Partner Charles Coorey and lawyer Zoe Hodgins are advising on regulatory aspects of the transaction.  The deal team was supported by a large group of dedicated lawyers across the Firm.

Tim said “we were delighted to advise the Fermentum team on this milestone. The deal is testament to the iconic beer business that Jamie, Brad, Ross and their whole team have built over many years, which was founded as a village brewery in Byron Bay and has become one of Australia’s most loved beer brands.  We admire the community spirit that the founders have ingrained in the business and look forward to seeing Lion build on these foundations through its custodianship.”

Jamie Cook, founder and chair of Fermentum said “The agreement with Lion is an enormous moment for the Fermentum business.  We are really grateful for the thoughtful, calm and strategic advice we received from G+T from the get-go of our strategic review process. They were outstanding.”

Gilbert + Tobin’s M+A and Corporate team has advised on many of Australia’s largest and most innovative transactions across a broad range of industries, including recently advising Afterpay on its proposed $39 billion acquisition by Square, Inc., PowAR consortium on its $3 billion take private of Tilt Renewables, KKR on the proposed acquisition of Colonial First State from CBA, MIRA and Aware Super on the acquisition of Vocus and previously Anheuser-Busch InBev on $16 billion sale of Carlton & United Breweries to Asahi Group .