Sogrape firmly back under family control

Portugal’s largest wine company, Sogrape, is firmly back under family control after a six-year legal battle.

The Guedes family

According to the Wine Spectator, the ninth-richest man in Portugal, José Berardo, has sold his 32% stake in the company to majority shareholders the Guedes family, one of Sogrape’s founding families, for an undisclosed sum.

“We are very pleased with this agreement,” chief executive and third generation of the Guedes family Salavador Guedes told the magazine.

The sale ends Berado’s attempt to take over the company, which owns the Sandeman and Mateus brands, along with Bodegas LAN in Rioja and Finca Flichman in Argentina.

The Guedes family now owns more than 80% of the company.

With over 1,416 hectares of vineyard land across Portugal, Argentina, New Zealand, Chile and Spain, Sogrape generates an annual turnover of around £150 million.

Sogrape owns the Sandeman brand

Three families founded the company in 1942: the Guedes family, the Carmo family and the Correia da Silva family, but it has been controlled by the Guedes’ since the ‘80s.

Berardo, whose father was a master blender for a Madeira house, acquired a stake in the company when the Carno family sold their third for around £37m.

In 1993, he bought control of JP Vinhos, now Quinta da Bacalhôa, which owns the Aliança and Quinta do Carmo wineries and controls 1,092 hectares of vineyards.

According to WS, Berardo hoped to play a leading role in Sogrape and create synergies between it and Quinta da Bacalhôa. When the Guedes family resisted, the spat ended up in court.

“I had dreamt of a merger between Sogrape and Bacalhôa, with benefits for both parties, but that was not possible and now it’s time to move on,” Berardo said.