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 Entertainment | July 2006 
French, US Drink Makers Eye Mexico's Herradura
 Reuters
| | Casa Herradura, among Mexico's most famous tequila makers, is in talks with three major U.S. and European drinks companies over its possible sale. |
Casa Herradura, among Mexico's most famous tequila makers, is in talks with three major U.S. and European drinks companies over its possible sale, the Mexican company said on Monday.
Family-owned Herradura said it had held preliminary talks with Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA), the world's No. 2 wines and spirits group, with Brown-Forman (NYSE:BFA - news), maker of Jack Daniel's and Southern Comfort, and with the privately held Bacardi in a deal reportedly worth up to $800 million.
"There is interest in buying 100 percent ... and Herradura will listen. If at the end of the day the proposals are interesting, they will be analyzed," public relations director Hector Quirarte told Reuters.
He said no formal offer has been received or price set, but offers are expected within two months and a final decision by the end of the year.
Herradura, with annual sales of around $300 million, is one of the nation's few tequila makers completely in Mexican hands. It is based near the city of Guadalajara in Jalisco state, the center of the industry that makes the fiery liquor from the agave plant.
Some 30 percent of Herradura's sales are outside the country, mainly in the United States and Europe.
Last year brothers Pablo and Guillermo Romo de La Pena, the company's owners, bought back 25 percent of the firm that had been sold in 2001 to Spanish Grupo Osborne, Herradura's international distributor.
They originally were seeking a new buyer for that stake but received interest in buying the entire company from Pernod, Bacardi and Brown-Forman, among others, Quirarte said.
"Herradura hopes to penetrate the international market more every day," he said. |
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