Vranken-Pommery spends E37m buying new vineyards

Champagne group Vranken-Pommery Monopole has spent more than €37m increasing its vineyard holdings with the purchase of five companies in the region, including Bissinger & Co.

The deals, for a total of €37.6m, include the acquisition of Bissinger’s Domaine du Montchenois, a 22-hectare vineyard on the Massif de Saint-Thierry, north-west of Reims, and supply contracts covering some 228ha of vines in total.

Vranken-Pommery said Bissinger was the primary focus of the acquisitions, which also include traditional broker GV Courtage, SC du Pequigny – the owner of 2.6ha of vineyards in the southern Aube area – and CDA Gmbh, the agency which handles Vranken-Pommery and Bissinger products in eastern Europe.

‘These acquisitions will enable the company to streamline its organisation and flows, improve the security of its grape supplies … integrate the additional margin linked to a flow of 2m bottles a year, have in its possession a single, uninterrupted domaine of over 20ha in Champagne,’ said the company, which owns the Pommery, Vranken and Heidsieck Monopole brands.

It financed the purchases with a capital increase of €42.5m, using the remainder of the funds to strengthen its financial structure.

Written by Richard Woodard