Moët Hennessy and Campari Group have formed a 50/50 joint venture (JV) with the purpose of investing in wine and spirits e-commerce companies and build a European e-commerce pure player in this growing category.
As part of this partnership, Campari will be contributing its stake in Tannico to the JV. Moët Hennessy will pay Campari €25.6m in cash for the sale of 50% of the JV’s equity capital.
Tannico focuses on online sales of wine and premium spirits under the Tannico brand with a share of around 30% of this segment. Tannico also owns a majority stake in ventealapropriete.com, an e-commerce platform for the sale of premium wine and spirits in France.
Tannico and ventealapropriete.com have complementary business models, territories and capabilities in terms of technology, marketing and logistics and generated pro forma aggregated sales of over €70m in 2020. Campari Group CEO Bob Kunze-Concewitz added: “After the completion of Tannico’s first transformational step with the acquisition of ventealapropriete.com, thanks to this agreement, the new partnership aims to continue to grow, further strengthening its footprint and expertise in the online retailing of spirits and wine.”
The JV between Campari and Moët Hennessy aims to build a premium pan-European e-commerce player for the benefit of all wine and spirits brands and their European consumers. “This partnership represents a significant step forward in our global e-commerce development strategy. While e-commerce was already a growing channel for wine and spirits, the global pandemic has triggered a significant acceleration,” said Philippe Schaus, president & CEO, Moët Hennessy.
The combined business will be led by a seasoned management team led by Marco Magnocavallo, current CEO of Tannico, who remains a key minority shareholder in the business. “With the joint backing of Moët Hennessy and Campari, Tannico will have the firepower to consolidate the fragmented European e-commerce sector and offer a qualitative, sizeable and integrated route-to-market option catering to the needs of all its wine and spirits suppliers,” said Magnocavallo.
