Do we like them?

Do we like Lion?

Brewer of Tooheys, XXXX, Steinlager and other beers, based in Australia and New Zealand.

Our score: 5 out of 10. A big, established brewer with no major recent scandal in what we found, but our search was thin. We can't call it a clear back or a clear avoid.

Lion is the Australia and New Zealand brewer behind Tooheys and Steinlager. Japan's Kirin bought out the rest of the old Lion Nathan in 2009 in a deal reported at about A$3.5 billion, and it has owned the company outright since.

In June 2020 a ransomware attack shut Lion's IT systems and breweries for almost three weeks. Reports said the hackers demanded about US$800,000, and Lion warned of beer shortages. Lion said at the time it had no evidence that any data had been removed.

Lion once had a big dairy and drinks arm, and it wrote down more than A$1.3 billion on it over two years. A 2019 sale to China's Mengniu was blocked by the Treasurer as against the national interest. Bega Cheese then bought the arm for A$534 million.

In September 2025 Lion merged its Australian and New Zealand operations under one structure, with Anubha Sahasrabuddhe as CEO. We found no recent fines or court cases, but our search was thin, so we've scored it in the middle.