KPMG administrators have appointed Colliers International to sell the McWilliam’s Wines Group business and assets by expressions of interest closing March 31.
McWilliams went into voluntary administration in early January.
Assets for sale include the Hanwood winery near Griffith in the NSW Riverina and the Mount Pleasant winery in Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley.
The group’s brands include McWilliam’s and McW, as well as the Australian distribution rights for Taittinger Champagne and Henkell sparkling wine.
Mateus Rosé moves to Oatley
Mateus announced today that is leaving McWilliam’s Wine Group to join the Oatley Fine Wine Merchants portfolio, effective from March 1.
João Gomes da Silva, of Portuguese parent company Sogrape, said: “To McWilliam’s Wines, our former partner in the market, I would like to express our gratitude for their professionalism and dedication to the brand for over 20 years.
Oatley chairman Sandy Oatley added: “The Rosé category is in strong growth and the Mateus wines will be pivotal in how we support our customers with their Rosé offering.”
Colliers International’s Tim Altschwager and Nick Dean said the preference was to sell the company and its assets in one line as a going concern, but there was also a possibility to acquire assets separately.
Additionally, there was an option for an investor to recapitalise the group via a deed of company arrangement.
Altschwager said the sale represented a unique opportunity to acquire an iconic, family business as well as a large amount of stock and significant property.
“We anticipate wide-ranging interest from major wine industry participants, private equity investors, high net worth individuals and buyers looking for restructure opportunities,” he said.
“In particular, existing wine industry groups will see this as an outstanding opportunity to add an iconic name to their portfolios.”
In a normal year the company has gross sales of about $97 million and produces about 1.3m (nine litre) cases of wine, of which about 100,000 are exported.
Drought and smoke from the summer’s bushfires recently forced Mount Pleasant to abandon its crush completely rather than risk smoke taint.
KPMG administrator Tim Mableson said the 2020 vintage was well under way, with customers, growers, suppliers and employees continuing to support the business.
“There has been no direct impact to the McWilliam’s Wine Group’s Riverina region vineyards as a consequence of the recent Australian bushfires,” he said.
“There is sufficient back vintage bulk wine and finished goods for the Mount Pleasant brands so commitments to markets are not impacted.”
