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After the collapse of a restructuring deal with bankers ANZ, struggling Australian producer Evans & Tate is being courted by two potential rescuers.
The restructuring deal announced in May with ANZ collapsed as ANZ were unable to find a co-investor.
On 18 June Evans & Tate announced an ‘in principle’ rescue plan from the Pendulum Investor Group, headed by Peter Fogarty of the Fogarty Wine Group.
Today Evans & Tate announced that it had received a merger proposal from Ferngrove Vineyards on Friday 22 June.
Under the Pendulum offer, Evans & Tate’s current debt of AUS$100m (£42m) owed to ANZ would be reduced to AUS$55m (£23m). Evans & Tate would issue 429m shares to ANZ in exchange for debt. ANZ would sell half of these shares to the Pendulum Investor Group for an undisclosed sum.
The Ferngrove proposal has Evans & Tate reducing the debt to AUS$42m (£18m). For the merger, Evans & Tate will acquire all Ferngrove’s shares and issue 413m shares to Ferngrove. ANZ would cease to be a shareholder after two years.
Written by Jim Budd
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Jim Budd moved from education to wine in 1988 and has written for Decanter since 1989. He is the former editor (1991-2015) of Circle Update, the newsletter of the Circle of Wine Writers. He writes the award-winning www.jimsloire.blogspot.com and is one of the five members of the Les 5 du Vin blog. Budd exposes the dangers of drinks investment on his award-winning www.investdrinks.org website, and complementary www.investdrinks-blog.blogspot.com blog. He also contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, Wine Behind the Label and the Academie du Vin. Budd is a keen photographer – especially in the Loire.