UB acquires wine maker Bouvet Ladubay of France

Bangalore, July 13 (UNI) Spirits major UB Group today announced the acquisition of French wine maker Bouvet Ladubay SAS for a consideration of Euro 14.75 million.

The acquisition had been made by Asian Opportunities and Investments Limited, UB's wholly owned subsidiary in Mauritius.

Necessary agreements in this regard have been entered into for the conclusion of the transaction, UB said in a release here.

Consequent to the acquisition, Bouvet Ladubay SAS and its wholly owned subsidiary, Chapin Landais SAS, have become the wholly owned subsidiaries of Asian Opportunities and Investments Limited and that of the company, the release said.

Bouvet Ladubay is an established winery, set up in 1851 in the Loire valley of France, a noted wine growing region. The state-of-the-art winery, producing sparkling wine by using the traditional 'Methode Champenoise', produced a distinctive and superior quality of wine, well received at premium prices in France, Germany, the UK and the USA. Sales of over three million bottles last year resulted in a revenue of Euro 12 million.

Through the acquisition, the group said it had the opportunity to introduce high quality wines (both bottled in origin, in France and bulk imported to be bottled locally) to the emerging wine connoisseur in India. It would also enable the company to assimilate leading edge viticulture from the Home of Wines on wine making, and take advantage of established distribution in Europe and the US to push other products from its portfolio in the Western markets.

McDowell had funded this acquisition from the proceeds of GDR issue/internal accruals. No additional borrowing had been taken for the purpose, the release said.

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