6.3.16 Possible Buyer for Garvey?

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.

2.4.15 Probable New Owner of Garvey: Promontoria

The future of Garvey is still uncertain, but what seems apparent is that the investment company Promontoria BBE is interested in the brands and assets of the bodega. The latter has been a problem, however as ownership is scattered, and potential buyers would have to negotiate with all the individual owners to buy machinery, equipment, stocks (owned by the receivers) and the brands. Promontoria already have a mortgage on the buildings and land.

Negotiations are at an advanced stage, and the plan is to reassemble all the parts of Garvey under one owner and re-float it for its later sale as a going concern. If all goes well, this could be in about a month’s time.

The receivers also wish to sell off Zoilo Ruiz Mateos, another ex Rumasa bodega which is in receivership and which has the winemaking and bottling contract for the Sandeman brand. ZRM owns the Sandeman bodegas and vineyards.

The Complejo Bellavista, Jerez (foto:diariodejerez)

The whole affair is very complex and there are many questions in the air which are causing worry in the Sherry trade. People wonder what the Ruiz Mateos family might have gained from the sale of the brand names; why did Promontoria not negotiate directly with the brand owners and instead resort to an intermediary?

The Court embargo on the brand names prevented their use by anyone other than Bellavista (Garvey), thus tying the hands of the Ruiz Mateos so that sooner or later the brands would have become part of the receivership and the amount paid for them would go to the creditors. The Garvey executive who managed to secure the brands will be able to use them as a lever to keep his job with the new company.

Promontoria – which has some link to Banco Santander – could not really have negotiated directly with the Belize company about the brands because of the latter’s poor relations with the Santander who cut off funding, bringing about the receivership.

Garvey “Regains” the Garvey Brands

The pieces of the puzzle of the receivership of the Nueva Rumasa bodegas are slowly coming together. In the case of the Complejo Bodeguero Bellavista – better known as Bodegas Garvey (and once the main activity of the Ruiz Mateos family in Jerez) - the recovery of the Garvey brands, whose registration runs out this year will smooth the way for the receivership which has been under way for 4 years.

Apparently a specially created company, a director of which is also a director of Garvey, has secured the principal brands, among them Garvey, Garvey BV, Bodegas Garvey, Grupo Garvey, the Fino San Patricio range of Sherries and brandy Espléndido. The Ruiz Mateos family kept the registered title to the main Garvey brands via a company in the name of third parties based in the tax haven of Belize, but the court embargoed them to the tune of €9m. The new company’s operation has the approval of the receivers and guarantees the use of the brand names for Bellavista and their inclusion in the receivership, which will make a sale of the production bodega easier and quicker, as this had long been a stumbling block. Maintaining the bodega and its workforce as a going concern is a priority for the receivers and naturally the bodega would be hard to sell without its famous brand names - especially with liabilities of about €90m.