Glenmorangie looks to rum group for European distribution
sales in key markets from Moet-Hennessy to Bacardi-Martini, thereby
reinforcing its exisitng relationship with Brown-Forman as well.
Glenmorangie, the Scotch whisky distiller and marketer whose brands include Glenmorangie, Ardbeg and Glen Moray, has signed a new distribution agreement with the UK-based Bacardi-Martini group.
Bacardi-Martini will distribute Glenmorangie brand in a number of key European markets - Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland - from 1 February 2003, as well as the Ardbeg brand in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The rum group takes over from Moet-Hennessy as the whisky group's distributor in these markets, and has been the UK distributor for Glenmorangie for the last 10 years. It also sells the whisky brand in other Continental markets including France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.
The new agreement makes Bacardi-Martini the sole western European distributor for Glenmorangie and reflects the Scotch whisky group's desire to view the European Union as a single market. It will also help create synergies by allowing Glenmorangie to work with one single partner across a broader range of countries.
The deal with Bacardi-Martini is entirely separate from that signed with the US-based Brown-Forman Corporation (maker of Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort) in May 2000. Under the terms of that deal, the US group is responsible for the sales and marketing of Glenmorangie's brands to distributors in most international markets.
However, since Jack Daniels and Southern Comfort are distributed by Bacardi-Martini in most European markets, aligning the distribution of Glenmorangie's own brands with that of Brown-Forman through Bacardi-Martini's European network supports Brown-Forman's representation of the malt brands.
Paul Neep, chief executive of Glenmorangie, said:"We are delighted to be working with Bacardi-Martini in more European markets. This wider relationship now aligned with Brown-Forman creates a stronger pan-European representation and distribution network for Glenmorangie which will accelerate, over the long term, the development of our brands in important European premium spirit markets.
Moet-Hennessy, which acted as our distributor for many years in these markets, has done an excellent job in building ourbrands during that period and will hand them over to Bacardi-Martini in good health."
