{"id":4235,"date":"2012-01-05T11:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/?p=4235"},"modified":"2021-08-27T11:45:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T16:45:57","slug":"wedco-not-registered-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guysdrinkingbeer.com\/wedco-not-registered-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Save The Craft: An ILCC Update"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n It’s term paper day, of sorts, at the Illinois Commerce Commission.<\/p>\n Today, responses are due from the parties who attended last month’s hearing before the Illinois Liquor Control Commission to determine if Anheuser-Busch can keep it’s 30-percent stake in Chicago area distributor City Beverage. We previewed the hearing here<\/a><\/strong> and detailed the bombshell dropped during the hearing here<\/a><\/strong>. I know covering a deadline to file paperwork isn’t the sexiest thing to report – but we’ll do our best.<\/p>\n If you’ve made the New Year’s resolutions to click on fewer links, then we’ll tell you the bombshell dropped during the hearing, and subsequently confirmed by us, is that the company owned by A-B that holds the 30-percent stake in City Beverage isn’t registered to do business in Illinois.<\/p>\n Last month, A-B’s Vice President and General Counsel for North America Gary Rutledge, told us Wholesaler Equity Development Corporation – or WEDCO – doesn’t need to be registered here. \u201cThere is no requirement of law that WEDCO be registered with the Illinois Secretary of State\u2019s Office,\u201d said Rutledge. \u201cWEDCO does not transact business in Illinois and its minority interest in City Beverage does not constitute \u2018transacting business\u2019 in the state.\u00a0 The allegation that WEDCO should be registered is nothing more than an effort to distract the Illinois Liquor Control Commission from the issue at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Au contraire, said Illinois Liquor Control Commission Sue Hofer. \u201cThe Liquor Control Act requires all owners and officers of a licensed corporation to qualify in the same way that the licensee \u00a0corporation qualifies.\u00a0 Thus, WEDCO will likely have to become authorized to do business in Illinois because the licensee in which they are an investor is required to be an Illinois corporation,\u201d said Hofer.<\/p>\n We reached out to the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, who has in turn reached to A-B to inquire as to why is WEDCO not registered in Illinois. A-B still has a few weeks to respond to the inquiry. In the end, it will be up to that office to determine if A-B is required to register in Illinois and what penalties and fines the brewer will face if they have been operating in Illinois without going through the proper channels.<\/p>\n It’s a safe bet that the majority of the paperwork filed today will focus on the WEDCO registration issue. Our guess is A-B will need to defend itself, or at the very least try and deflect attention away from that. Those interested in forcing A-B out of its 30-percent share will surely be hammering away at the WEDCO registration – or lack thereof.<\/p>\n The Liquor Control Commission has not said when they will decide on the fate of A-B, WEDCO and City Beverage.<\/p>\n There is also a bit of side-drama playing out concerning Two Brothers Brewing and Windy City Distribution. The two are separate companies but up until the summer of 2011 had common ownership; something A-B made an issue of last year. And now a second party has piled on calling foul.<\/p>\n Here is what the hubbub is over. As you can see below (if you look real<\/em> close) Jane Ebel is listed as an owner of both Two Brothers and Windy City.<\/p>\n Two Brothers:<\/p>\n