FDBusiness.com

Campari Group has agreed to acquire Bisquit Dubouché et Cie from South Africa-based Distell Group. 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 at approximately €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 VS Classique, Bisquit VSOP, Bisquit Prestige and Bisquit XO, 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 (pictured), chief executive of Campari Group, says: “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.”