By Andrew Starke
Constellation Wines Australia (CWA) has dismissed as ‘speculation’ reports that a US-based private equity company is lining up a bid for the local division of the world’s largest winemaker.
The Australian Financial Review today (Dec 15) revealed that Cerberus, the same US private equity firm linked with a bid for Treasury Wine Estates in September, was considering a bid for either the whole of Constellation Brands or just the Australian operation.
Contacted by TheShout, a spokesperson for CWA would neither confirm nor deny discussions with Cerberus.
“As there are so many rumors that float around the wine industry we have a policy of not responding to speculation,” she said.
In April Constellation Brands, owner of CWA, ended merger discussions with Australian Vintage (AVL) after six months of talks.
The two wine producers had been considering ways of joining AVL’s local and British businesses with the global wine giant’s operations.
On November 24 Constellation Brands was delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange at the request of the company.