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Tim Cooper Biography & Facts

Coopers Brewery Limited, the largest Australian-owned brewery, is based in the Adelaide suburb of Regency Park. Coopers is known for making a variety of beers, the most famous of which are its Pale Ale and Sparkling Ale. In the twelve months to 30 June 2020 total beer sales, excluding non-alcoholic beverages, rose to 79.8 million litres, an increase of 3.9% from the previous year. It is also the world's largest producer of homebrewing beer concentrate in cans. Cooper's also manufactures DIY kits, reusable plastic bottles and boxed brew enhancers. Its shares are primarily owned by the extended Cooper family, and the company's constitution and classes of shares makes it difficult to sell shares outside the family. History 1862 – Norwood The brewery was established by Thomas Cooper in 1862 at his home in the Adelaide suburb of Norwood. He brewed his first recorded batch on 13 May 1862. 1881 – Leabrook In 1881 the brewery relocated to larger, commercial facilities at Leabrook. 1897 – Partnership Thomas died in 1897. In his will, after bequests to his wife, daughters and youngest sons, he left all his property to his four eldest surviving sons, John, Christopher, Samuel and Stanley, under instructions to "carry on my business as Brewers under the form of 'Thomas Cooper & Sons' as partners". 1923 – Incorporation Each time one of the partners retired or died, a new partnership agreement needed to be drawn up. This became unwieldy, so in 1923, the partners decided to incorporate with limited liability. An agreement was drawn up where the capital of the company was declared as £39,000, and 39,000 £1 shares were distributed. 15,953 of the shares were designated as class "A", and 15,953 as class "B". Directors were to be appointed equally by holders of "A" and "B" shares. Changes of the 1960s The company went through the doldrums during the recession of the late 1880s, a boom time in the 1920s, the doldrums during the Great Depression, and mixed fortunes through World War II and the 1950s. By the 1960s, the brewery was still producing much the same products as in the 1880s, but the brewing environment, and consumer demand, had changed. 1962 – SA Brewing share swap There had been much consolidation of breweries in South Australia since Coopers was established, and the South Australian Brewing Company and Coopers & Sons were the only breweries remaining in Adelaide. As both were attractive takeover targets, in 1962 (after 100 years of Cooper family sole ownership), the two companies decided to do a mutually beneficial share swap in order to reduce the risk of takeover. The traditional South Australian market leader had been the South Australian Brewing Company. The share swap gave SA Brewing a 25% interest in Coopers ("C" and "D" class shares), and Coopers received 291,404 SA Brewing shares (2.65%). The Coopers board of directors was increased from four to five, with SA Brewing's "D" shares having the right to elect the fifth director. After consulting the SA Brewing board and receiving their support, Coopers sold their SA Brewing shares in 1984, (at a substantial profit). SA Brewing continued to hold their 25% interest in Coopers. 1968 – Gold Crown Lager In the early 1960s, demand for Coopers Ales was flat, had been for years in the past, and looked like it would be for years into the future. The company strongly considered adding a Lager to their range. The older members of the board were highly resistant to such change, and, as this would be in competition with SA Brewing, the new board member was also resistant. It was not until 1967 that the board voted to go ahead with the new plant, with the SA Brewing representative not voting. After 105 years of only brewing ale and stout, "Gold Crown", Coopers first Lager, was available for sale in 1968. 1970 – Profitability In 1970, the retail price of a bottle of Coopers ale was 41 cents: 11.82 cents (28.8%) was brewery costs 19.55 cents (47.7%) was excise and taxes 8.75 cents (21.34%) went to the retailer 0.88 cents (2.16%) was the brewery profit. 1987 – 125th anniversary To celebrate the 125th anniversary, the board commissioned Adelaide historian Alison Painter, (wife of John Painter, an engineer employed by Coopers in 1968 to oversee the upgrading of the brewery plant and the reduction in plant maintenance costs), to write "Jolly Good Ale and Old : The history of the Coopers Brewery 1862–1987". 1993–1995 Lion Nathan takeover of SA Brewing and Coopers' reclamation of family ownership SA Brewing Holdings subsequently diversified into manufacturing and wine, and then refocused to form Southcorp, Southcorp Wines, and SA Brewing. SA Brewing was acquired by trans-Tasman Lion Nathan in 1993. After two years of negotiations, in 1995 family members purchased all of the "D" class shares (with their right to elect a director), and some of the "C" class shares, and Coopers Brewery Ltd purchased the remainder of the "C" class shares. Thus, SA Brewing had a seat on the Cooper's board of Directors from 1962 to 1995, but in 1995 the Cooper family once again became sole owners of the company. 2001 – Regency Park In 2001, the brewery relocated to much larger premises at Regency Park. Since 2003, the Regency Park brewery has used a gas turbine based cogeneration plant to supply steam and electric power requirements. Fired with natural gas with a thermal efficiency of 80%, the $6.2 million plant produces power with a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to a separate electricity generation and steam production plant. The plant is operated by AGL Energy and is rated at 4.4 MW. Generation above the brewery's electrical load of 1.2 MW is fed back into the grid. 2005 – Lion Nathan takeover bid In late 2005, Lion Nathan made an unsolicited takeover bid for Coopers, which was strongly opposed by the board and by the Cooper family. It was ultimately rejected at an Extraordinary General Meeting when the holders of 93.4% of the shares voted in favour of permanently removing the 3rd tier purchasing rights of Lion Nathan, effectively preventing any current or future takeover bid. Prince Alfred College held 70,000 shares (5%) in Coopers Brewery, which had been received in a bequest. At the time of the unsolicited takeover bid by Lion Nathan, these shares were valued at between $18 million and $22 million and considered to be a possible blocking stake. Liquidity of shares Due to various restrictions imposed by the company's constitution, the selling of Coopers' shares is a tedious and complicated exercise. The constitution restricts and defines who can buy shares. Shares may not be owned by competitors, there are "Tiers" of rights to buy shares, and the constitution also imposes other terms and conditions. A further complication is that although all shares have the same voting rights on the floor of a general meeting, the four classes of shares have different rights to nominate directors. The process of selling involves.... Discover the Tim Cooper popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tim Cooper books.