Will Larry Bell Be Selling Bell’s Brewery Inc?

The future of Bell’s Brewery Inc. ownership may be up in the air.  The brewery may be sold, but the story isn’t exactly what you think.  In an attempt to guarantee that the brewery is passed down to future generations of the Bell family, Larry has been negotiating with stock holders to buy back the shares he needs to ensure his children will own the brewery in the future.  Unfortunately, those negotiations are not going well, and  should the negotiations fail, Larry will potentially resort to selling the brewery out now rather than risk his family losing the brewery should anything happen to him.  This from MLive:

As early as fall, the decision to sell the nation’s 13th largest brewery could be made depending on the outcome of ongoing negotiations with several minority shareholders, company president Larry Bell said.

About $22 million has been spent on the brewhouse and renovating the Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, but the rest of the project is on hold as the company tries to save money in an attempt to buy out 11 of the 14 shareholders, Bell said.

Bell, 53, and his two children, Laura and David, own a majority of the company’s shares, which total 60,000, according to Michigan’s Department Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. He said his goal is to pass Bell’s Brewery Inc. on to the next generation, but he hasn’t ruled out selling their shares if a resolution cannot be reached.