The discussions, described as “exploratory” at this point, were verified by Australian Vintage in an announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange today. The listed company, which posted flat sales from the latter six months of 2023 last week, was prompted to issue the statement by “recent media speculation”.
“AVG confirms it is in exploratory discussions with Accolade, however … there is no certainty that any transaction will eventuate,” the filing added.
February started with Accolade unveiling a recapitalisation plan that resulted in its owner, The Carlyle Group, offloading the business to a five-strong group of institutional investment companies. The plan, which had been lined up to complete by the end of June, was drawn up to help the Hardys and Banrock Station owner deal with what CEO Robert Foye described at the time as “an unsustainable balance sheet”.
Then, as part of last week’s results announcement, Australian Vintage provided an update on its business review that kicked off last year. Of the seven strategic options under consideration in the review, the McGuigan owner admitted that “the potential [of a merger would] be transformational”.
No indication was given that negotiations were underway with a partner beyond reference to “strategic opportunities” having been “identified”.
