United Wineries president and CEO, Victor Redondo today announced the company has entered into a joint partnership with La-Vis of Italy. The agreement means that United Wineries takes over distribution of the La-Vis range of wines in the UK with immediate effect.
“La-Vis is a wine company we have admired and respected for a long time and this will be the only deal we do with an Italian company, so we can really focus on its brands. The complementary portfolio with valuable synergies and no conflicts to our own fits strategically with our vision of global brands and global distribution,” Redondo said.
“This accord is different in its approach,” he continued. “La-Vis has effectively become our shareholder partner by taking a stake in United Wineries, which in turn implies long-term common goals and aligned interests.”
The deal means that United Wineries is changing from being a solely Spanish brand owner and distributor by expanding beyond its heartland into another country. La-Vis brands include Canaletto, Villa Cafaggio and Cesarini Sforza, with UK sales of over seven million bottles last year.
Marco Raengo, Secretary General of La-Vis commented, “United Wineries has a similar culture to La-Vis and shows dynamism and flair in the UK market. It has an excellent commercial platform, great distribution and a proven history of building brands. We are very excited about this new chapter of La-Vis wines in the UK and look forward to a fruitful and mutually beneficial partnership with United Wineries.”
United Wineries combines global brands with global distribution and a unique supply structure with a market-driven organization. United Wineries is present in all the Spanish wine regions such as Rioja and Cava where there is sufficient volume and critical mass to build global brands like Berberana and Marqués de Monistrol. As a result, United Wineries is the number one supplier of both Spanish branded wines and Rioja wines to the UK, Norway and the Netherlands. The La-Vis brands have the same potential, with sufficient volumes from renowned Italian wine regions to create brands of scale.
Victor Redondo further commented, “Now is the perfect time to invest in Italian wines. The country is growing more than twice as fast as the UK category, showing 14.8% year on year value growth and 6.7% volume growth. Our ambition is to be instrumental in driving those figures higher.”
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