Diageo has offloaded another of its lower-priority spirits brands, with De Kuyper Royal Distillers acquiring the Archers flavoured liqueur.
Four months after selling the French aperitif Picon to Campari Group, the UK-headquartered company today confirmed an agreement with privately-held De Kuyper. The Dutch group, which focuses predominantly on the cocktail channel, declined to disclose the purchase price for the 18%-ABV peach schnapps when contacted by Global Drinks Intel today.
De Kuyper already owns a peach liqueur: With an ABV of 20%, Peachtree is the top-selling peach liqueur globally, according to its owner, selling in the region of 13m bottles since launching in 1984. Archers debuted two years after Peachtree.
CEO Mark Witte said De Kuyper chose to acquire Archers rather than “keep competing” with the brand in its largest market, the UK. Witte also praised Archers’ “very stable” performance in the country.
Diageo, which will continue to produce the schnapps for two years, praised itself for its “disciplined approach to capital allocation”.
“This announcement continues our track record of active portfolio management,” said Europe president John Kennedy.
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