Duprey swirls new French acquisition

Lawrence Duprey’s  CL Financial Spirits Group has sealed a deal to buy French company spirits group, Marie Brizard & Roger International, by  increasing its 25.8 percent shareholding in French vodka producer, Belvedere. Belvedere said it would finance the acquisition through a capital increase, to which its key shareholder, CL Financial, also owned by Duprey, would subscribe, along with some debt. Belvedere, which is Eastern Europe’s biggest distributor of white spirits, struck a deal to buy a 69.3 percent stake in Marie Brizard from Duke Street Capital. Belvedere said it would pay the UK private equity group US$167.37 a share. The deal values Marie Brizard at around EUR320 million, excluding debt.

Marie Brizard is a public company quoted on the French Stock Exchange and is world renowned for its tradition of quality wines, liquers, cognac, cocktails and cordials. Through its recent acquisition of William Pitters International, a leading Scotch Whisky Company,  Marie Brizard now commands the top whisky position in France. The intention is that the overall holding of CL Financial Spirits group in Belvedere will be increased substantially from its current 25.8 percent position, said the company. The CL Financial Spirits Group, once known as CL World Brands, boasts a portfolio including Angostura rums and world famous Angostura aromatic bitters, Scotch Whisky  producer  Burn Stewart Distillers, Hine Cognac and a number of International distribution platforms strategically located throughout Europe, the US, and the Far East. 

It is expected that this acquisition will further strengthen the global positioning of all the group’s brands. Belvedere’s move to buy Marie Brizard comes five months after it failed in its bid to buy Poland’s biggest state-owned distiller Polmos Bialystok.   “Marie Brizard is an extremely good opportunity for our Vodka Brands including Sobieski to open up new Markets in Western Europe and the US” said top Belvedere officials. The combined Belvedere and Marie Brizard Group is expected to report a turnover of 900 million Euros for the financial year ended 2005. CL World Brands said  the recent acquisitions reflects the group’s strategy to build a global spirits group with a strong and comprehensive portfolio of brands distributed through a first class network.