Emperador completes Domecq brand buyout

Bodegas Las Copas S.L., a 50-50 joint venture company of Emperador-led Grupo Emperador Spain and Gonzales Byass, has completed the acquisition of the Domecq and Pedro Domecq brands from Pernod Ricard, along with the brandy, spirit and wine business linked to those brands for € 80.9 million (P4.33 billion).

Emperador Inc.’s latest acquisition will give it access to the brandy market in Latin America, especially Mexico where the Domecq brandies take half of the entire brandy market.

The acquisition cost will be financed through a combination of cash on hand and external financing, Emperador said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

Pernod Ricard in a previous statement said the transaction included the brand portfolio of Mexican brandies Don Pedro, Presidente and Azteca de Oro, as well as the winery related to the production of Mexican wines in Ensenada, along with the relevant inventories of the Domecq brands in several markets, including Spain, the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The disposal is in line with the Pernod Ricard’s strategy to simplify its portfolio for growth and focus on priority spirits and wines brands. It reinforces the presence of Bodega Las Copas in the global brandy category.

The acquisition comes about a year after Emperador bought Beam Suntory’s brandy and sherry business in a deal valued at about 275 million euros ($292 million).

Emperador, a unit of billionaire Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., is the world’s largest maker of brandy. 

Emperador since 2014 has been expanding its brand footprint outside the Philippines.

Net income of Emperador in 2016 posted a net income of P7.7 billion, up 11 percent from 2015, while revenues stood at P41 billion.

Share price Emperador on Friday closed at P6.04, up P0.05 from the previous day’s close.