IBP FINANCE
Powder Monkey Group
Acquires Castle Eden Brewery
Powder Monkey Group has acquired
local contract brewing company Castle
Eden Brewery.

County Durham-based Castle Eden
Brewery has focused on contract
brewing since 2016. Following the
acquisition, Powder Monkey Group said it
planned to ‘maintain those relationships’.

It also said it looked to ‘add brewing for
their existing product line’, and ‘resurrect
the Castle Eden Brewing brand name
UK’s Canned Wine Group to
Seek Further Funding
Canned Wine Group is looking to raise
more funds by the end of 2025 as it
looks to grow headcount and expand
the presence of its on-draught keg line.

Co-founder and CEO Simon Rollings
said the money would be used for
‘working capital’, to build its sales and
marketing teams and scale the on-tap
line for its Copper Crew brand.

Rollings said the single-serve wines
business was looking to raise £3m,
mostly from new investors and was in
talks with several VC firms. It has so far
raised £2m to date.

Canned Wine Group launched its 20
litre wine kegs in the UK in March and is
looking to expand the presence of those
in the UK and Ireland.

Agromousquetaires Eyes Sale
of Eight Factories
Agromousquetaires, the French
private-label manufacturer, is putting
eight of its more than 50 factories on
the market.

The company, part of the Groupement
Mousquetaires business that also houses
French retailer Intermarché, is looking
to sell five food plants, a beverage site
and two horticultural units.

28 throughout the area through increased
focus on the beers that made CEB an
important piece of local beer history’.

In 1963, Castle Eden was acquired
by Whitbread and eventually sold to
private owners in 1998. In 2014, Castle
Eden was bought back by its owners and
moved to Seaham.

Commenting on the deal, Andy
Burdon, CEO of Powder Monkey Group,
said, “We are constantly looking at great
opportunities to expand the Powder
Monkey portfolio and the attraction back
to my heritage in Durham, coupled with
a superb facility and great operation,
makes great business sense and is
fantastic for me on a personal level.”
Powder Monkey owns four breweries.

Two in the UK – Powder Monkey Brewing
Co. in Gosport and Goddards Brewery on
the Isle of Wight, which the group bought
in February – and two in Australia: Willie
the Boatman and Southern Highlands
Brewing Co., both in New South Wales.

The group also manages the
hospitality venues attached to Powder
Monkey Brewing Co., Goddards Brewery
and Willie the Boatman.

Its main markets are the UK and
Australia. It also exports to Hong Kong.

There were 56 at the start of the
year but the company sold ready-
meals site Sveltic to Belgium-based
What’s Cooking? in a deal announced
in January. Last year, French meat-
processing group LDC snapped up the
Les Délices de Saint Léonard factory in
Morbihan from Agromousquetaires.

The eight plants up for sale include:
a bread and brioche facility in Joué-lès-
Tours; two seafood factories in Britanny
and a third in Pas-de-Calais; two cut-
flower units in western France; and a fruit-
juice bottling site in Hermes, north of Paris.

Agromousquetaires also wants to
offload rice-to-spices factory Antartic in
Charmes-sur-Rhône in southern France.

of the canned food and juices maker
had completed in an exceptionally
short timeframe, allowing us to activate
tangible synergies from the outset.”
He added, “A potential IPO may provide
a tangible opportunity to fully drive the
growth potential of the food & drinks
business, while also enabling the business
to secure additional financial resources to
accelerate its external growth strategy.”
The dairy and savoury snacks
business stressed, “At this stage, no
decisions have been made and there
can be no certainty that any such
transaction or changes will proceed.”
The Reggio Emilia-headquartered group
is already thinking about boosting its drinks
production. In May, the business announced
plans to take over an Italian plant from
Diageo that had been set to close.

The pasta maker has signed an
exclusivity agreement to buy the
production facility in Santa Vittoria
d’Alba in the north of the country.

Newlat Mulls IPO Following
Princes Integration
Italy’s Newlat Food is considering an
IPO and listing on the London Stock
Exchange after integrating Princes
Group into the company.

In a statement accompanying its first-
quarter results, Newlat said it was chewing
over ‘among other things, an initial public
offering and listing of a substantial part’
of the business, which is being renamed
NewPrinces. Newlat bought Princes last
June for £700m from Mitsubishi Corp.

In the latest filing, Newlat Chairman,
Angelo Mastrolia, said, “The integration
Diageo Eyeing Asset Sales
Diageo could make ‘substantial changes’
to its product portfolio in the form of
asset disposals, CFO Nik Jhangiani said.

Speaking to analysts, Jhangiani said
Diageo had identified opportunities
to offload assets that were different
in scope to the deals Diageo had
conducted in recent years.

INTERNATIONAL BOTTLER & PACKER | JULY 2025