Beam completes purchase of Cooley

As indicated before Christmas, Beam Inc has now completed purchase of Cooley Distillery, the only independent Irish distillery in Ireland, for $95 million on a debt-free basis.

The Irish whiskey category grew 11.5 per cent in 2010 to 4.86 million cases according to Impact Databank which states that the leading markets for Irish whiskey are the US, Ireland, the UK, France, South Africa and Germany. 

Cooley currently sells approximately 250,000 nine-liter cases per year – divided among its brands, private label products and bulk sales to third-party customers – and has production capacity to support substantial future growth.