20.1.17 Grupo Emperador Completes Purchase of Garvey

Andrew Tan, whose Emperador group already owns Fundador has paid 35 million euros for the ailing Sherry division of the defunct Nueva Rumasa which has been in receivership for more than five years. It guarantees the continuity of the business and security of employment for the 40 staff. The price was agreed last July with the administrators and the banks which hold mortgages, and with paperwork completed the deal was finally signed yesterday. It includes the Complejo Bodeguero Bellavista, Zoilo Ruiz Mateos (including the visitor centre), the Cerro Viejo vineyard and the bottling contract for Sandeman which is owned by the Portuguese group Sogrape. The deal also includes stocks and brand names for Sherries and brandies and Licor Calisay.

A view of the Complejo Bodeguero Bellavista (fot:diariodejerez)

The man in charge of Emperador operations in Spain, Joan Cortés, confirmed yesterday that he will be the director of Garvey and that Salvador Real, the innovative oenologist with Delgado Zuleta, will be appointed as technical director. Cortés explained that despite long years of administration and a considerable drop in sales, there is still a large stock of both old soleras and new ones. Since the purchase agreement last July, Emperador has been supervising the bodegas’ management and creating a business plan with the intention of keeping the business going and retaining the staff. The plan is now in its final phase.

Emperador is a multinational based in the Phillippines which bought the old Domecq business (Fundador)from Beam Suntory not much more than a year ago for 275 million euros and has demonstrated serious commitment to both Sherry and Brandy de Jerez as well as to the area’s wine tourism. Recently, in a joint venture with González Byass, Emperador bought back the rights to the Domecq brand name from Pernod Ricard. It is now the largest brandy producer in the world with total sales of some 360 million bottles and owns over 1,000 hectares of vineyard, two distilleries in Tomelloso and half of the González Byass production plant Las Copas, thanks to a strategic alliance with GB for whom Emperador was the biggest client before the purchase of Fundador.