DF Deutsche Forfait AG
DF-Group takes over Berlin-based Vagabund Brewery

• DF-Group acquires 100 % of the assets of the insolvent Vagabund Brauerei GmbH from Berlin
• Name change to Vagabund Brauerei FB GmbH decided
• Brewery site in the former Osram-Höfe and Taproom in Berlin-Wedding to be retained
• New Business model developed for successful continuation.

Cologne, 02 July 2024 – DF Group is vigorously implementing its announced diversification of the business segments and announces its first M&A deal. Vagabund Brauerei FB GmbH, a newly founded subsidiary of DF Deutsche Forfait AG’s (ISIN: DE000A2AA204) (DF AG) intermediate holding company DF Food & Beverage Holding GmbH, acquired all assets of the insolvent Berlin craft beer brewery Vagabund Brauerei GmbH on 1 July 2024. This will enable the brewery, which has been located in the Brüsseler Kiez of Berlin-Wedding since 2011, to continue its business activities under new management with new ideas.

In 2009, “three Americans travelled across the Atlantic to form a band in Berlin”, as you can read on the website www.vagabundbrauerei.com.  Although the band did not achieve a musical breakthrough, they turned their other shared passion into a profession and founded the Vagabund Brewery in 2011. From Belgian Ales and Pale Ales to Double IPAs and Stouts to Berliner Weisse and Berliner Helles – with over 150 types of beer now brewed, Vagabund Brauerei has developed into a multi-award-winning craft beer brewery.

“Unfortunately, exploding procurement costs and a failed financing round forced us to file for insolvency in early 2024,” says Matthew Walthall, one of the three founders and former managing directors. “We are therefore all the more pleased that DF Group approached us to take over and continue the business operations and the brewery.”

“Vagabund Brauerei presented us with a unique opportunity to realise the diversification of our business areas with the announced M&A strategy,” commented Management Board member Hans-Joachim von Wartenberg on the takeover. “We came to an agreement with the insolvency administrator very quickly and will now maintain the well-known traditional values of the “Vagabund” with a new management team and use new ideas to take the brewery’s previous success beyond the city limits of Berlin.”

About Vagabund Brewery

The story of the Vagabund Brewery began in 2009 when the three founders, who originally played in a band together, lacked “something exciting and liquid” to perform good music. As there was “only Pilsener” in Berlin, they decided to brew their first Pale Ale themselves, which quickly won many fans after its market launch. In 2011, the band members founded Vagabund Brauerei GmbH and opened a bar, the Taproom, in Berlin-Wedding in 2013. Between 2014 and 2020, Vagabund was voted one of the best craft beer breweries in Germany by RateBeer for seven years in a row. In 2021, Vagabund Brauerei significantly expanded its capacity by converting the listed boiler house in the former Osram-Höfe in Berlin-Wedding into a brewery with a production capacity of around 30,000 litres per month and also opened a bar and beer garden in the boiler house. In July 2024, the listed DF Group took over the Vagabund Brewery.

About DF-Group

DF Group is a finance company with the business areas of external trade finance, proprietary trading and M&A. It focuses on the food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, industrial, energy and infrastructure sectors. DF Group specialises in the food, pharmaceutical, healthcare, industrial, energy and infrastructure sectors. As a specialist in foreign trade finance with a focus on the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, we offer our customers the right product solution thanks to our extensive experience, our strong network and our comprehensive compliance expertise. Since 2023, DF Group has also acted as an independent trader of commodity products in the new Trading segment in compliance with the applicable compliance requirements. M&A activities have been part of DF Group’s business areas since 2024.

Press contact DF Deutsche Forfait AG / Vagabund Brauerei FB GmbH i. G.

Guido Janzen
Director Investor Relations / Media
Gustav-Heinemann-Ufer 56, D – 50968 Cologne
P +49 221 97376-61

E investor.relations@dfag.de
www.dfag.de