Spanish producer Freixenet has bought Bordeaux négociant Yvon Mau in a deal to be finalised at the beginning of next month.
While neither company will discuss the purchase, reliable sources unofficially confirm that Freixenet has acquired the 100-year-old négociant, the third largest exporter of Bordeaux wines and France's fifth largest exporter of still wines.
Details of the deal, for example whether Mau's other holdings – Château Ducla in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux, and the recently purchased Médoc cru bourgeois Château Preuillac – are included in the sale, will be announced at the beginning of September.
Freixenet is Spain's premier sparkling wine producer, exporting 75% of all Cava produced in the country. It also has numerous still wine holdings in Spain, France, Australia and Mexico. The company makes no secret of its active acquisitions policy. In July this year it took control of Australian group Wingara in a US$18 million (£12 million) deal, and it is seeking properties 'all around the world,' Graham Fortune, MD of the company's UK division, told decanter.com.
'We will continue to look for possibilities,' he added. 'We are looking to expand.'
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