CHAMP PE gets GE financing for Accolade Wines expansion

This is the second round of financing secured for Accolade, which previously received a $220 million facility in 2011. This latest injection of capital will used to further fuel the company's global expansion.

Accolade came into being in 2011 after CHAMP bought Constellation Brands' UK and Australian interests, including its South African brands, wineries and vineyards for approximately $290 million. Constellation Brands owns 20% of Accolade and CHAMP controls the remainder.

The company has already made a number of strategic acquisitions since it formed.

In November, it agreed to acquire a portfolio of wine brands from New Zealand counterpart Mud House Wine Group. Prior to that, the company bought a majority stake in Chinese wine distribution business Shanghai CWC Wine Trading, with the intention that the acquisition would serve as a platform for Accolade's expansion into the China market.

In the same year, the firm also expanded its North American base by acquiring Californian brands Geyser Peak, Atlas Peak and XYZin, together with their assets and inventory, from Ascentia Wine Estates.

"GE's global platform is important to the implementation of our strategy of being a full-service New World wine proposition globally across the three core price segments of value, mid-market and premium," said John Ratcliffe, CEO of Accolade Wines, in a statement."We operate globally and working with GE allows us to do this seamlessly across multiple geographies."

 

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Consumer
• Buyout
• Australia
• Consumer
• buyout
• CHAMP Private Equity