Emperador completes deal with Fundador

A new era has begun for Spain’s largest and oldest Spanish brandy-maker, Bodegas Fundador, which is now officially under the wings of Philippine beverage group Emperador Inc. led by tycoon Andrew Tan.

Combining the assets and production facilities of Bodegas Fundador and Emperador Philippines created the world’s largest brandy company, Tan said in a speech during the turnover ceremonies in Jerez, Spain on Wednesday.  This came after his group completed a deal to buy the 286-year old brandy-maker and other Spanish assets from Beam Suntory.

“Brandy business is my passion, my whole life has been dedicated to brandy making, and certainly today is a big moment in my life, the investment of Grupo Emperador in Fundador is an important milestone for our company,” Tan said.

“It is our passion for brandy and sherry that brings us together.  If the world’s best whisky is aged in sherry casks then the brandy that is now aged in sherry casks in Jerez can also be the world’s best brandy,” he said.

Tan vowed to further upgrade the group’s brandy operations to claim its “right place” in the global market currently dominated by Cognac and Armagnac. “To achieve this goal we require quite a substantial amount of investment,” Tan said.

The acquisition was made through Emperador’s offshore unit Group Emperador Spain SA, whose managing director, Jorge Domecq, said that with this combination, “the world’s largest brandy company is born.”

“We now have almost 1,500 hectares of vineyard land in Spain, around 1,000,000 square meters of cellar and bottling facilities, and four distilleries worldwide,” Domecq said. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla