A 50/50 joint venture between Moët Hennessy and Campari Group to invest in wine and spirits online companies in order to build through Tannico (Campari acquired a stake in it) a pan-European player specialising in the online market, as the pandemic fuels the shift to e-commerce.
The agreement
According to the joint statement, the partnership involves the sale of 50% of the joint venture capital from Campari to Moët Hennessy (wines and spirits division of the LVMH group) for €25.6 million euro in cash. The transaction is expected to be finalised after completion of all the usual authorisations. As part of the partnership, Campari Group will sell its stake in Tannico, a premium wine and spirits company (with a share of around 30% in the segment). Tannico is also the majority shareholder of Ventealapropriete.com, a French wine and spirits online shop. The two companies generated at an aggregate level pro-forma sales of over 70 million euros in 2020.
Tannico's role
The project team will be led by Marco Magnocavallo, current CEO of Tannico, which remains a key minority shareholder in the business: "Tannico will have the firepower to consolidate the fragmented European e-commerce sector and to establish a sizeable and integrated route to market, capable of meeting the needs of all its wine and spirits suppliers" said Magnocavallo. About the creation of a "premium pan-European player" in the wine and spirits e-commerce channel, the President and CEO of Moët Hennessy Philippe Schaus affirmed: "While e-commerce was already a growing channel for wines and spirits, the global pandemic has triggered a significant acceleration".