we wanted to
be in control of
developments
within our own
company
Family
within our own company." Heineken Espana wasted no time
moaning about the measures but set to work energetically. The
government's deadlines were amply met, as the (Cruzcampo)
breweries in Madrid and Valencia were already sold in June 2001.
Several months after the decision by the Spanish authorities the
relevant licensing agreements had also been terminated.
Spanish beer industry watchers were not really surprised when it
was announced that the 100-year-old El Aguila was going to
merge with the 96-year-old Cruzcampo. Carlos de Jaureguizar
points to many similarities in the history of the two breweries.
"El Aguila was established in Madrid in 1900 and was later
expanded through the addition of breweries in Valencia, Zaragoza,
etc. Cruzcampo was founded in 1904 in Seville and, just like
El Aguila, it sought to expand by adding new breweries to the
business. Another similarity is that both of them were formerly
family-owned businesses which were subsequently taken over by
international brewery groups." And yet there are also differences
between the two breweries. For many years El Aguila presented a
real challenge to Heineken. They were confronted with a shrinking
market and, despite various reorganisations and restructuring
operations, it took many years before the brewery succeeded in
becoming profitable. Cruzcampo - thanks to its very strong
position amongst beer drinkers within the Seville-Cadiz-Huelva
triangle in south-west Spain - had been a highly profitable
operation for many decades.
For El Aguila the turnaround came at the end of the 1990s.
"Within El Aguila a winning spirit arose again. We had Heineken,
which was developing healthily in the premium segment and also
the Aguila Amstel brand, which again started growing after
remaining static for many years," says commercial director José
Manuel del Olmo. In 1998, the many years of efforts started to
show through in the form of good profit figures. Everyone in the
organisation was delighted: for the first time in a lengthy period
El Aguila was in the black.
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