Villa Maria sale could fetch more than $200m
Trade and private equity buyers are being approached to buy or invest in winery Villa Maria Estate.
Investment bank UBS has been mandated for the search and has a handful of interested parties, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column.
In November Villa Maria Estate, which is largely owned by Sir George Fistonich, said it was selling 31ha around its Auckland base and exploring raising capital to accelerate its global growth strategy and ambitions.
But a sale of the entire business would be a step up from that.
The AFR reported that potential buyers believe it could be worth more than A$200 million ($213m), although binding bids were still a while away.
A Villa Maria spokeswoman said it had nothing to add to what it had announced already.
“A process is under way and has not concluded so anything else is purely speculation.”
Fistonich, who founded Villa Maria in 1961, stepped down as chief executive in March 2018.
Trade buyers could include rival wine company NZX-listed Delegat and privately owned Indevin New Zealand, which has wineries in Marlborough and the Hawke’s Bay.
Some Australian private equity players are also said to have taken part in the process.
In November Villa Maria Estate chief executive Justin Liddell said it was selling the Mangere acreage because its value had risen to a point where it was not possible to generate a reasonable return on the vineyards.
“We’re exploring selling 31ha of vineyard and bare land surrounding our headquarters at Mangere,” Liddell said.
“We will continue to operate our Auckland winery, bottling, warehousing, head office and hospitality functions on the remaining 10ha.”
Liddell also said at the time the company was exploring raising capital from interested parties who wanted to support its growth plans and it did not expect any decision to be made until the end of March.
Villa Maria brands include Villa Maria, Esk Valley, Leftfield, Vidal and Thornbury.
It was recently awarded 39 gold medals across the group portfolio at the New Zealand International Wine Show.