Accolade plans stock exchange float

Australian wine giant Accolade is planning to float on either the Australian Stock Exchange or the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to the Financial Times.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Robert Foye, Accolade’s chief executive. said: “I want to do an IPO (Initial Public Offering).

“And that is what we are going to do at Accolade Wines. So we are going to do that in the next two to three years either on the Australian Stock Exchange, or actually I’d like to do it on the Hong Kong stock exchange.”

Accolade, whose leading brand is Hardys, is owned by US private equity group Carlyle which bought it for A$1bn (US$778m) in 2018.

It had sales of A$1.2 billion but lost A$11.6m in the year to June 2020. Foye forecasts a 25% growth in earnings in the year to June despite the tariff wall China has imposed on imports from Australia.

In the interview, Foye said Accolade had been slow off the mark in China, a market he predicts could continue to grow for a further 15 years.

He said Accolade would circumvent China’s punitive tariffs of up to 212% on Australian wines by shipping from other countries. It already has interests in Chile, South Africa and the US and Foye hinted that it was in the market for potential takeovers.

Accolade has bought two premium Australian wineries, Rolf Binder Wines and Katnook Estate, in the past year. It is the second largest wine company in Australia after Treasury Wine Estates.