Who owns BANKS BEER?

BANKS BEER is owned by

BANKS DIH

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Banks Brewery was created in 1955 in Georgetown, Guyana, by Peter D’Aguiar, owner of his family business D’Aguiar Bros., which produced rum and soft drinks, among other things. D’Aguiar Bros had started in the 1840s by D’Aguilar’s grandfather, Jose Gomes D’Aguiar, selling rum and operating liquor stores. In 1896, his four sons took over and purchased Demerara Ice House (DIH). Peter D’Aguiar took over as managing director in 1934. At that point, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but D’Aguiar began to focus on the rum and soft drink business and deemphasizing the company’s retail and hospitality holdings. Their position began to improve, and in 1942 the company received the first Coca-Cola bottling license in South America.

While D’Aguiar Bros was privately held, Banks Brewery was created as a publicly listed company in 1955. In 1961, he also started a Banks Brewery in Barbados, but the two companies stayed separate for years. This version of the Banks brewery was made possible with the help of 3000 Barbadian stockholders, who bought 1.5 million shares of the brewery. As a result, there was animosity over the intellectual property rights of the two competing Banks brands, despite much of their ownership being shared by D’Aguiar. By that time, D’Aguiar had also become a prominent right-wing politician in Guyana.

In 1966, D’Aguiar Bros – at that point known as D’Aguiar Bros (D.I.H.) also became publicly listed, and in 1969 merged with the Guyanan Banks to become Banks DIH Ltd, the name by which the company is known today. In 2005 the two dueling Banks breweries finally merged to help promote the brand worldwide. By 2008, Banks had begun shipping the beer to the United States, using beer made from the Barbados Banks Brewery.

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