The plan will bring the Hardys and Banrock Station owner’s debt level down by a “substantial” sum at a time when the Australian wine industry is struggling with “macro-economic and industry headwinds”, the company said today. Subsequently, ownership will transition from Carlyle, which bought Accolade from CHAMP for AUD1bn (then-US$770m) in 2018, to a five-strong group of institutional investment companies under the collective banner of Australian Wine Holdco.
The five comprise:
- Bain Capital Special Situations
- Intermediate Capital Group
- Capital Four
- Sona Asset Management, and
- Samuel Terry Asset Management.
No figures were provided in today’s announcement.
“Despite our strong stable of brands and leadership positions in key markets, as well as operational measures taken to strengthen the business, our ability to respond to these [macro-economic and industry]challenges and grow has been hampered by an unsustainable balance sheet,” said CEO Robert Foye, who remains in post.
“With this recapitalisation and the support of our new shareholders, we will be ideally positioned to take advantage of the significant opportunities to meet customer demand and grow sales around the world.”
The plan is expected to complete by the end of June.
Accolade has been in business consolidation mode in recent months: September’s offload of higher-end wine producer House of Arras in Tasmania to Handpicked Wines was followed six weeks later by the divestment to Ringtail International of the Stone’s Original Ginger Wine brand.
The company, which also owns New Zealand-based Mud House and multi-region brand Jam Shed, is not alone in making self-protection moves. Domestic peer Australian Vintage is the subject of an ongoing strategic review, which was confirmed in July.
