EDI eyes 33% of global brandy market

Emperador Distillers Inc., the liquor manufacturing arm of tycoon Andrew Tan, expects to double its sales in five years and become a dominant global brandy producer.

“We hope to have 33 percent of the world’s brandy market within five years. By that time, out of three bottles of brandy sold on this planet, one bottle will be Emperador. We are rapidly pursuing our international expansion and we expect to sell Emperador to more countries,” Jorge Domecq, managing director of Emperador International Ltd., said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Emperador International is a unit of EDI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alliance Global Group Inc.

“We also expect Emperador to be bottled in different parts of the world. Spain will eventually account for 25 percent of our Emperador production. We will continue to build Emperador as a strong global brand,” Domecq said.

Emperador is already the world’s largest-selling brandy brand in the world, with a sales volume of 31 million cases in 2012.

EDI recently took a crucial step toward overseas expansion with its acquisition of Bodega San Bruno S.A., a brandy company based in Jerez, Spain.

In the Philippines, brandy is being manufactured by EDI under the Emperador and Generoso labels. Emperador, at 72 proof, targets mature consumers (25 years old and above) and is marketed in 1.75 liters, 750 ml and 375 ml bottles. Generoso, a lighter and sweeter brandy at 65 proof, targets women and young drinkers (18 to 25 years old).

Emperador has been in the market for 19 years while Generoso was introduced in late 2006. A flavored alcoholic beverage, called The BaR, was soft-launched by the EDI group in November 2008.