MOET HENNESSY INVESTING IN AMERICAN CRAFT WHISKEY

 

Woodinville Whiskey

Woodinville Whiskey Co., another craft distillery has been bought out but this time by a huge Cognac & Champagne conglomerate, ie, Moët Hennessy.
This is the first time Moët Hennessy are making a move into the craft spirit movement. We know of their ownership of scotch whisky Glenmorangie and Ardberg, but they did not own any small craft spirits.

This follows a trend, last year Pernod bought West Virginia's Smooth Ambler Spirits Co., while Remy Cointreau acquired Westland Distillery also located in the State of Washington.

The sale is a strategic move by the founders Brett Carlile and Orlin Sorensen to help Washington State's largest distillery to grow and expand since establishement in 2010.
Originally, the whiskeys were only available in the State of Washington but one can imagine this will change now.

Source: Woodinville Whiskey Co.

ARRIVEDERCI TO COGNAC MARNIER-LAPOSTOLLE GOING TO GRUPPO CAMPARI

I am a little sad to see Marnier-Lapostolle go to Campari Group ($761M). It reminds me when Volkswagen bought Bentley in the 1990s. The name Marnier-Lapostolle is deep rooted in the Cognac region, and it is far away from Milano.

Not easy to keep a family business going for more than 150 years inside a family.

Some key figures:

1827: Establishment of the Marnier-Lapostolle distillery in Neauphle-le-château, Yvelines, Paris region.
1880: Creation of Grand-Marnier liquor.

1919: Purchase of Vineyard with Chateau de Sancerre.

1921: Purchase of castle in village of Bourg-Charente, Cognac region.

Marnier Lapostolle Castle in Bourg-Charente, Cognac

1994: Starts wine business in Chile.

2013: 100% of Grand Marnier moved in Bourg-Charente.

Marnier-Lapostolle was in recent years the 5th largest buyers of cognac from the region since 60% of the Grand Marnier recipe composed of cognac, with about 12 million bottles sold per year.

Grand Marnier is exported in about 150 countries and the USA accounts for 60%, while Europe = 30%, Asia 10%, and France 8%.

Lapostolle Wines in Chile is composed of 370 hectares, with 3 vineyards and an annual production of 200,000 cases.

Once a year the Marnier-Lapostolle Castle in Bourg-Charente was opened to the public and mostly full of locals which really enjoyed visiting it. I wonder if this tradition will be kept!

History is made!

Sources: Lapostolle.com, Forbes.com, Charente Libre.fr, House of Marnier

COULD IT BE TRUE THAT COGNAC REMY MARTIN IS BEING ACQUIRED BY BROWN-FORMAN?

Rémy Cointreau's shares have fallen by around 40% over the past year because of a slowdown in China's economy. China is an important market for Rémy Cointreau because of the amount of business they do with Rémy Martin in Asia. 

Prior to this slow down, China had accounted for around one-third of Rémy’s turnover. In the first nine months of the company’s fiscal year (ended December 31, 2013), overall sales declined by 12.3% to €964.5 million ($1.325b).

However, today Rémy Cointreau’s share price jumped on rumors that Brown-Forman was considering a bid for the French drinks group.

Brown-Forman and Remy-Cointreau

After financial blog Betaville reported on 3rd April that Brown-Forman has been working with several advisers, including Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, Lazard Bank etc. on a potential acquisition of Rémy, and that “tentative discussions have been held between investment banking advisers to both companies,” Rémy shares rose by as much as 11% on the Euronext Paris Exchange—to more than €65 ($89)—in this morning’s early trading. By mid-day in Paris, Rémy’s share price surge had cooled, but, at around €62 ($85), they were still nearly 5% above yesterday’s closing.

Rémy Cointreau is a family-controlled company, with the Heriard-Dubreuil family holding majority ownership. Over the years, the Heriard-Dubreuils have steadfastly refused to sell, even as Rémy has at times endured more difficult conditions than it does currently, and I doubt the Heriard-Dubreuil will sell.

Brown-Forman is also a family business with 70% controlled by the Brown family in Kentucky. Jack Daniel's is by far its most famous brand (Tennessee whiskey).

Cognac makes up 80 percent of Remy Cointreau's operating profit and China 50% of it. Jack Daniel's make 50% of Brown-Forman profits.

This would be a major deal in the cognac market. I wonder if this is a 'hoax' as it is being reported by Reuters or Bloomberg also as a 'rumor' and 'speculation'.

Diageo, Pernod Ricard or Bacardi may want to get in the game too.

Sources: http://www.shankennewsdaily.com, http://www.reuters.com, http://www.bloomberg.com

REMY COINTREAU IS NEGOTIATING TO ACQUIRE THE MAJORITY OF COGNAC LARSEN

Remy Martin has just announced negotiating the majority acquisition of Cognac Larsen.

Cognac Larsen founded in 1926, is one of the last 100% family owned cognac house controlling the full process of cognac production and is located in downtown Cognac city.

Remy Martin has already sold 202,3 millions euros from Jan-to-July 2012 which accounts for 62% of the Remy Cointreau Group sales during this period.

Société Générale Bank re-evaluated down their valuation of the stock market shares of Remy Cointreau from 93 to 79 euros. The reason is a reduced growth this trimester (+5.3%) compared to +24.4% from the previous trimester. Although they anticipate the growth to continue they do not know how much growth prospects will continue to be generated by Asian markets.

It may appear that Remy Martin is trying to access another stock of cognac and/or perhaps diversify its brand portfolio. Let's hope it is not the disappearance of another smaller house as we want to keep cognac alive in its many different forms. Diversity is key to avoid standardization and boredom.

Cognac Larsen Remy Cointreau Negotiation

Source: Bourse Le Figaro