29.5.18 Filipino Businessman Invests in Williams & Humbert

The Medina family, which has owned Williams & Humbert outright since 2013, and has some 30 brands sold in over 70 countries, has sold a significant stake in the company to the Filipino businessman Lucio Co. This investment will allow the company to consolidate existing business and help to develop the strategic plan for further expansion. Lucio Co is the founder and chairman of Cosco Capital, a publicly traded holding company with diverse business interests such as distribution, energy, real estate and retail (he owns Puregold Price Club, the Philippines’ largest retail chain). He is one of the world’s largest buyers of the products of the Marco de Jerez, and has earned a good reputation with Jerez City Council and the Consejo Regulador Brandy de Jerez. The Medina and Co families have enjoyed good relations for some 20 years starting with Co’s importation of the W&H brandies “1877” and “Alfonso I” which is now one of the brand leaders in the huge Philippines brandy market. Another brand, “Alhambra” was launched there in 2016. The new deal between W&H and Cosco was signed by Lucio Co and Jesús Medina Garcia de Polavieja in a ceremony held at the residence of the Philippine ambassador to Spain, Phillippe Lhuillier, in Madrid.