After one Filipino
businessman bought Beam, it seems that another might be interested in Garvey. Lucio Tan (not related to Andrew) is
also in the distilling business, among others, and has his eyes on Garvey
Complejo Bellavista and Zoilo Ruiz Mateos, both ex Nueva Rumasa and both in administration
for the last five years. Any purchase would be extremely difficult since the
bodegas have been run down over recent years and there are many complicated legal
loose ends. One bodega interested in buying is said to have dropped the whole
idea on learning of them while another very low offer was refused.
The main stumbling blocks are the brands, the
mortgage and the workforce which numbers about 60. The Ruiz Mateos family
transferred title of all the brands to henchmen in companies based in fiscal
paradises. Without the brands the bodegas lose most of their appeal, not to
mention value. The land and the buildings belong to Promontoria Holding, and
any buyer would almost certainly have to pay off as many as 40 staff. When the
bodegas went into administration their debt was 216 million euros. It will need
a miracle to resuscitate them, so let’s hope this is it.
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