Land of the maple and Cape grapes in wine deal

Local export wine boosted into UK and North Europe RAY SMUTS YET more foreign investment has flowed into the Cape Winelands in the form of Canada’s Vincor International Inc - one of North America's largest producers of wines and related products - which has acquired the shares of privately held Western Wines, the largest independent wine importer and distributor in the United Kingdom. Toronto-based Vincor paid £84million for the business and assumed £49 million in debt for an aggregate enterprise value of £133 million. "This acquisition squarely meets all our strategic objectives and greatly increases the scope and scale of the company, moving us significantly closer to our goal of being one of the world's top ten wine companies," says Vincor president and ceo, Donald Triggs. He adds that through this latest acquisition, Vincor gains an impressive portfolio of premium brands including Kumala, the largest South African export brand and the UK's top selling brand from this rapidly growing New World wine region. It also provides Vincor with considerable distribution reach in the UK and North Europe as well as an extensive portfolio of approximately 400 brands divided between owned brands, agency brands and private label products. Western Wines, founded in 1980 has, in volume terms, the second largest market for New World wine and a share of about 8% of the UK off-licences (retail market), selling more than one out of every three bottles in the UK. Its South African portfolio is highlighted by Stellenbosch-produced Kumala, the UK's leading South African brand and among the UK's top five brands by both value and volume. Western Wines expects sales of £97,5 million this year; an increase of around 25% over 2003. Interestingly, recent AC Nielsen analysis places Kumala - only available in South Africa since last year - sixth among the top ten brands sold in British supermarkets and off-licences; the only wine to feature from this country, in a survey dominated by no fewer than six Australian brands and not a single brand from France. SA winemaker, Ben Jordaan, says his Kumala brand is intended to be "seriously fun and not pretentious", adding that the range of wines is sourced from all 14 districts in the Cape wine-growing region.