Campari Group is closing out the year with plans to acquire the Courvoisier cognac brand in what will be the biggest transaction in its history.
The purchase, valued at US$1.32bn, brings to an end Beam Suntory’s near-20-year ownership and sets the scene at Campari Group for the pending departure of current CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz in April. Campari Group will join Pernod Ricard (with the Martell brand), Rémy Cointreau (with Rémy Martin) and Moët Hennessy (Hennessy) at cognac’s top table once the transaction completes at some point next year.
Greg Hughes, who only took over from Albert Baladi as Beam Suntory’s CEO two months ago, said the decision to sell “would allow us to further focus our portfolio on our core areas of strength as we accelerate our global growth ambitions”.
Kunze-Concewitz, meanwhile, positioned the purchase as a “fantastic opportunity [to] prime cognac to become Campari Group’s fourth major leg along with aperitifs, bourbon and tequila”. His successor, Matteo Fantacchiotti, flagged the size of the transaction, adding: “Courvoisier will enable a significant step up in the US while also permitting long-term transformational potential in the strategic Asia-Pacific region.
“Our recent investments into business infrastructure and enhanced operation capabilities … will allow us to unlock Courvoisier’s full potential.”
Citing figures provided by Beam Suntory, Courvoisier’s pending new owner said the brand’s sales in the 12 months of 2022 totalled $249m. For the first ten months of this year, however, Courvoisier’s sales tumbled by 33% on the corresponding period a year earlier. “This performance is impacted by recent market-driven trends such as normalising consumption in the US after peak post-covid sales and destocking at wholesaler level, in-line with the wider cognac industry,” Campari Group added.
As well as Bisquit Dubouché and its Bisquit cognac brand, which entered the company’s portfolio almost exactly six years ago for EUR52.5m (then-US$62m), Campari Group also owns cognac-based liqueur Grand Marnier, acquired a year earlier for EUR652m (then-US$725.6m).
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