Italian liquor manufacturer Campari has acquired its French competitor Grand Marnier for 679 million euro, after both parties agreed the deal on Tuesday.
Largest acquisition in past 10 years
With the acquisition, Campari hopes to expand its product range of liquors into the luxury branch of the market. Campari paid 60 % above Grand Marnier’s market value when the stock exchange closed on Friday.
At first, Campari will only acquire 20 % of the shares, but that will gradually increase until the Italian company obtains a 50.1 % majority stake. It will be the company’s largest acquisition since Robert Kunze-Concewitz took over as CEO in 2007, according to Belgian business newspaper De Tijd.
LVMH is Grand Marnier’s distributor in the United States and China, while Diageo does the same in Europe, but the liquor got somewhat neglected: the company’s 2015 turnover reached 152 million euro, only slightly higher than the 138 million euro from 10 years ago.
