Australia: Diageo sells wine business to Treasury Wine Estates

Australian wine giant Treasury Wine Estates has announced that it is to acquire the majority of assets from Diageo's wine operations in the UK and the USA in a cash deal worth $600 million.

As a result of the acquistion, the company behind brands such as Penfolds, Rosemount Estate and Wolf Blass will now also add Blossom Hill – the UK's second-biggest wine brand by value and volume in FY 2015 – to its portfolio. In the US,  it will take ownership of brands including Beaulieu Vineyards, Sterling Vineyards, Acacia, Provenance and Hewitt.

The company said the acquisition of Diageo’s wine operations complemented its established business strategy, and would allow it to replicate its focus on efficiency, investment in marketing and positive transformation.

Speaking about the deal, Treasury Wine Estates CEO Michael Clarke, said: “This acquisition will transform our US business into a larger player of scale in the attractive Luxury and Masstige segments of the high growth US market. The additional supply of Luxury and Masstige wine will be a game-changer for our US brands, providing us with an immediate opportunity to step-change our growth in the US, Canada, Asia and Latin America.”

The deal follows Diageo's recent decision to sell a number of its beer assets in emerging markets to Heineken.

Source: Treasury Wine Estates / BBC News