Shifting Shapes: A look at recent M&A
Commercial Spirits Intelligence No. 65
As people who have worked in and around the spirits industry for many years, we found that there was a lack of good, public, research on the trends in the spirits industry. Whether it’s trends in wood, or distillery capacity, or M&A activity - many of the existing research providers speak to a specific niche when we wanted a whole-market analysis. In this newsletter we leverage our experience, contacts and market intel to provide meaningful analysis that speaks to relevant issues for you. This newsletter is a collaboration between Duncan McFadzean of Noble & Co, and Martin Purvis. If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider a paid subscription.
Shifting Shapes: A Look at Recent Deals
Executive Summary
We have seen several M&A deals in the Spirits industry recently. This is typical for this stage of the cycle and we expect this to continue for several months. In our newsletter this week we look at the recent investment by Campari into CapeVin Holdings, the purchase of Famous Grouse & Naked Malts by Wm Grant & Sons from Edrington, as well as broader M&A news and speculation.
What can we learn about what buyers want? Are the sort of buyers changing? What does it mean for valuations? What do we hear and see on the ground? There are several distilleries that are currently being broked around, in some cases for eye watering prices. We leverage our knowledge of M&A as well as insights we are drawing from the multitude of conversations we have with M&A teams in the Major Spirits Companies, and executives and teams of spirits companies on the ground. M&A is set to be a significant feature or a reshaping of the industry over the next 12 months.