CHAMP Private Equity has made it official: its $1 billion-plus public float of Australia’s second-largest wine company, Accolade Wines, is off the table.
CHAMP, which has an 80% stake in Accolade, had planned to exit the business as a major shareholder.
Accolade is Australia’s second-largest wine company and owns brands including Hardys, Leasingham, Grant Burge and Banrock Station.
CHAMP chief executive John Haddock told The Australian Financial Review that there were too many moving parts in the business to proceed at this time.
He said a sales surge in China, Brexit hammering profits in the UK and the company still working to integrate Lion’s fine wine portfolio into the business were behind the decision.
The company also announced in October that it would spend between $35 million and $40 million setting up a new glass bottling plant and warehouse facilities at its existing winery in Berri.
Haddock said sales to China had jumped by more than 50% year-on-year, which had attracted the attention of Chinese private equity firms and companies involved in the wine business.
“We’ve had both,” he said. “Where that ultimately ends up, let’s see.”
He said the IPO could be revisited next year.
