Rémy Cointeau continues shopping spree

Rémy Cointreau is set to strengthen its hold on the Cognac sector, announcing that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Larsen Cognac.

Founded in 1926 by Norwegian Jens Reidar Larsen, the family-owned business is one of the last significantly sized independent producers of AOC Cognac.

In particular, Rémy Cointreau, which already owns the Rémy Martin Cognac brand, highlighted Larsen’s “inventories of eaux-de-vie which enables the company to guarantee the quality of its production and optimise its purchasing power.”

The news follows last month’s report of “excellent” 25.5% sales growth from the company during its first half of the year. Underpinning this performance was the group’s core Rémy Martin brand, which enjoyed organic growth of 20.1%, largely driven by double digit growth in the US and the Asian market.

With the company noting that its Cognac sales in Asia “continued to be principally driven by ultra-premium qualities,” this acquisition of Larsen would provide a valuable boost for Rémy Cointreau’s ability to compete in this lucrative arena.

If successful, this would not be Rémy Cointreau’s only highly strategic acquisition during 2012. This summer saw the group take control of Islay whisky distillery Bruichladdich, following reports from the Scotch Whisky Association that the category achieved record shipments worth £4.2 billion last year.