Pernod Ricard has sold most of its portfolio of international wine brands, including Australia's Jacob's Creek, Orlando and St Hugo, to a consortium.
Pernod Ricard announced overnight in Paris the sale of of the majority of its portfolio of international wine brands, including the Barossa Valley-based Jacob's Creek, Orlando and St Hugo.
The buyer is Australian Wine Holdco Limited, a consortium of international institutional investors whose backers include the private equity firm Bain Capital.
The consortium also owns Accolade Wines, one of the world's biggest wine companies, which holds the Hardys, Grant Burge, and Petaluma brands - amongst others. Its Western Australian brands are: Houghton, Goundrey, Amberley, Brookland Valley, Moondah Brook and Busselton Boys.
The sale is part of the complex process of wine brands owned by major national players, and some of their operations, changing hands.
In 2022, the state's largest winemaker, Fogarty Wine Group, led by founder and executive chair Peter Fogarty, acquired Accolade Wines' Nannup facility.
Soon after, under a sale-and-leaseback deal, Frankland River-based winery Swinney took ownership of the 38-year-old Brookland Valley vineyard in Wilyabrup, with Accolade Wines leasing it back to supply its Brookland Valley Estate and Houghton wine brands.
Each year, the Pernod portfolio produces millions of cases of wine from Jacob's Creek, Orlando and St Hugo, Stoneleigh, Brancott Estate and Church Road from New Zealand, and Campo Viejo, Ysios, Tarsus and Azpilicueta from Spain.
