The Company: Breckenridge Wynkoop Holdings ("BW") - (Breckenridge Brewery and Wynkoop Brewing Company): Founded in 1988 by former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, Wynkoop Brewing Company is a beer-blessed Denver institution, a must-visit Colorado landmark and one of the nation’s most revered craft breweries. We are Colorado’s first brewpub and Denver’s first microbrewery. In 2010, Wynkoop Brewing Company entered into a joint venture with Breckenridge Brewery (Colorado's third craft brewery, founded in 1990) to accelerate growth and gain greater scale. Now the nation's 50th largest regional brewery, Breckenridge opened its new brewery in Littleton, CO in May 2015 to rave reviews.
The Investment(s): In 1996, Lee and Rob Driscoll led a growth equity recapitalization of the Wynkoop Brewing Company along with other Driscoll family members and some partners who are close to the family. This allowed John Hickenlooper to continue to expand, adding additional brewpubs and brewing capacity over time. Over the next 20 years, as Wynkoop expanded, we continued to support growth with numerous additional financings and provided liquidity for John Hickenlooper's shares (at his request) when Hickenlooper became Mayor of Denver in 2003.
Value-Add: In early-2014, to meet an aggressive construction timeline at our new 76,000 s.f. brewery and 9,000 s.f. Farmhouse Restaurant in Littleton, CO, Rob and Lee Driscoll funded a multi-million dollar bridge loan in less than 36 hours. In late-2014 Rob Driscoll made an additional equity investment to provide liquidity to an early shareholder.
Sale-leaseback - Rob has deep ties and regular interactions in the capital markets. In late 2014, Rob recognized the real estate sale-leaseback market in general, and the 1031-exchange market in particular, were offering a tremendous opportunity to generate substantial liquidity at extremely low cost and on very favorable terms.
In mid-2015, BW completed a mid-eight figure financing in the form of a sale and leaseback of the real estate underlying some of our restaurants. This allows BW to continue to control the locations for decades to come (through long term leases) while also freeing up significant capital to grow and providing a "fortress-like" balance sheet.
Cost-reductions - with ample liquidity, a strong balance sheet and greater scale, we successfully achieved additional cost reductions in areas like freight, packaging, insurance, etc, enhancing BW's profitability and allowing for additional investments in future growth.
Strategic Sale - In March 2016, Breckenridge-Wynkoop Holdings completed the sale of certain assets to Anheuser-Busch Inbev, allowing our beer brands to continue their rapid growth with all of the global resources of ABI. The deal includes the new brewery and the Farm House restaurant in Littleton, CO, as well as the original brewpub and innovation center in the town of Breckenridge.
Breckenridge-Wynkoop will continue to own and operate the restaurants and brewpubs it retained, including Ale House at Amato's, Breckenridge Ale House, Breckenridge Colorado Craft, the Cherry Cricket, Mainline, Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. and Wynkoop Brewing Co.
The Investment(s): In 1996, Lee and Rob Driscoll led a growth equity recapitalization of the Wynkoop Brewing Company along with other Driscoll family members and some partners who are close to the family. This allowed John Hickenlooper to continue to expand, adding additional brewpubs and brewing capacity over time. Over the next 20 years, as Wynkoop expanded, we continued to support growth with numerous additional financings and provided liquidity for John Hickenlooper's shares (at his request) when Hickenlooper became Mayor of Denver in 2003.
Value-Add: In early-2014, to meet an aggressive construction timeline at our new 76,000 s.f. brewery and 9,000 s.f. Farmhouse Restaurant in Littleton, CO, Rob and Lee Driscoll funded a multi-million dollar bridge loan in less than 36 hours. In late-2014 Rob Driscoll made an additional equity investment to provide liquidity to an early shareholder.
Sale-leaseback - Rob has deep ties and regular interactions in the capital markets. In late 2014, Rob recognized the real estate sale-leaseback market in general, and the 1031-exchange market in particular, were offering a tremendous opportunity to generate substantial liquidity at extremely low cost and on very favorable terms.
In mid-2015, BW completed a mid-eight figure financing in the form of a sale and leaseback of the real estate underlying some of our restaurants. This allows BW to continue to control the locations for decades to come (through long term leases) while also freeing up significant capital to grow and providing a "fortress-like" balance sheet.
Cost-reductions - with ample liquidity, a strong balance sheet and greater scale, we successfully achieved additional cost reductions in areas like freight, packaging, insurance, etc, enhancing BW's profitability and allowing for additional investments in future growth.
Strategic Sale - In March 2016, Breckenridge-Wynkoop Holdings completed the sale of certain assets to Anheuser-Busch Inbev, allowing our beer brands to continue their rapid growth with all of the global resources of ABI. The deal includes the new brewery and the Farm House restaurant in Littleton, CO, as well as the original brewpub and innovation center in the town of Breckenridge.
Breckenridge-Wynkoop will continue to own and operate the restaurants and brewpubs it retained, including Ale House at Amato's, Breckenridge Ale House, Breckenridge Colorado Craft, the Cherry Cricket, Mainline, Phantom Canyon Brewing Co. and Wynkoop Brewing Co.