Loch Lomond Distillery bought, former Diageo finance chief becomes chairman
Under the terms of the deal, The Loch Lomond Distillery Company’s assets have been acquired by the newly formed Loch Lomond Group, in which Exponent owns a majority stake. The management team have also invested in the venture.
Assets include the Loch Lomond Distillery at Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, the Glen Catrine packaging plant at Mauchline in Ayreshire and the Glen Scotia malt distillery in Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute.
The company’s brands include Loch Lomond and Glen Scotia single malt Scotch whiskies, the High Commissioner blended Scotch whisky and Glen’s Vodka.
Seized the helm
Colin Matthews, who was previously responsible for leading Imperial Tobacco’s businesses in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Indian sub-continent, has seized the helm of the business as ceo.
“The growth of the Scotch whisky industry in recent years offers a great opportunity to develop further the Loch Lomond business, to refresh and expand the product portfolio, and to move into a number of new international markets building on the excellent progress the company has already made,” said Matthews.
“We have assembled a strong and experienced management team who will work alongside the existing management to take on this challenge and we are confident that together we can fulfil the considerable potential of the new group, its brands and its people in what is a robust and expanding industry.”
Exponent has a portfolio of businesses ranging across a number of sectors, including retail, media and financial services.
Skyrocketed
Whisky exports grew by £138M in the past full year, according to Food and Drink Federation commercial director Steve Barnes. The sector has delivered dynamic headlines for Scotland in the past few months.
Edrington Group’s £100M investment in a new distillery for The Macallan, its single malt whisky, at the end of 2013 was described as “phenomenal” by Scottish rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead.
On January 16, Diageo announced plans to pump £30M into its Clynelish Distillery in Sutherland.
And last month, Adnams announced a £1M investment at its Copper House Distillery in Southwold, Suffolk and Speyburn Distillery revealed it would spend £4M at its Speyside distillery near Rothes to double production.
