Milan, December 20th, 2017-Campari Group announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Bisquit Dubouché et Cie. from South Africa based Distell Group. The company, owner of Bisquit Cognac, is a cognac producer located in the heart of the French city of Cognac.
The Enterprise value is € 52.5 million and the price is subject to the customary price adjustment mechanisms. The acquired business includes the inventory, particularly maturing stock valued approx. € 33 million, the trademarks as well as production facilities consisting of warehouses, blending cellars and a bottling plant.
The deal is expected to close during the first quarter of 2018.
Established in 1819 by Alexandre Bisquit, the Bisquit Cognac brand is renowned for its excellence and luxuriousness, thanks to its unique distillation process that allows a superior concentration of aromas and smoothness. The brand offering includes a classic range of cognacs, namely Bisquit V.S. Classique, Bisquit V.S.O.P., Bisquit Prestige and Bisquit X.O., together with rare collections and limited editions, characterized by craft and unique features.
The Bisquit Cognac brand is expected to achieve pro-forma net sales of approx. € 9 in million in FY2018. The brand’s key markets include South Africa, Belgium, Global Travel Retail and Switzerland.
Bob Kunze-Concewitz, Chief Executive Officer: ‘We are very pleased to have acquired Bisquit Cognac, as it gives us the opportunity to expand our offering into the premium and growing cognac category. Thanks to the super premium brand Bisquit Cognac and its strong heritage, we further enhance our premium brands portfolio, driving richer product mix. Moreover, we acquire a significant stock of high quality cognac and take full control of the cognac ageing process, thus enabling brand innovation opportunities in the future. From a distribution standpoint we further strengthen our route-to-market, particularly in our recently established South African market, with potential upsides to further develop the newly acquired business internationally, particularly in US and China, the key regions for the premium cognac category. Moreover we further increase our exposure to the premium on-premise distribution channel, across both developed markets and emerging markets.’.
Closing the disposal of the Lemonsoda business
With regards to the agreement signed by Campari Group to sell the Lemonsoda business to Royal Unibrew A/S, as for Company announcement of October 4th, 2017, the conditions for the disposal are now satisfied and the transaction is expected to be completed on January 2nd, 2018.
