UK wine distributor Boutinot has completed a management buyout led by three senior directors.
Managing director Dennis Whiteley, commercial director Michael Moriarty and wine director Tony Brown MW, all of whom have been with the company since the mid-1990s, led the buyout, supported by Barclays Bank and Araldica Castelvero, the Piemonte-based wine cooperative and one of Boutinot’s main supply partners.
Boutinot was established over 30 years ago in the northwest of England by Paul Boutinot, who will now step down to focus on Waterkloof, his South African wine estate.
Boutinot has a portfolio of over 1000 wines and is the exclusive UK agent to 150 producers from around the world. It has less than 80 employees and an annual turnover of over £95m.
The business will continue to operate under the current management structure.
Boutinot supplies UK and international retailers, restaurateurs and wholesalers and also owns vineyards and produces wines from production sites in both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Paul Boutinot said he was ‘thrilled that the business has been taken on by the team I know well’.
‘It is good for the staff, the loyal customer base and the producers, many of whom have been close to the business since the beginning. The team is well-placed to take the business forward and build on the success they have already created.’
Whiteley stressed that it would be ‘business as usual’ after the deal.
Written by Decanter.com staff
