Moët Hennessy and Campari enter joint venture

By Lisa Riley

Published: 13 July, 2021

Moët Hennessy and Campari Group have announced the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with the purpose of investing in wines and spirits ecommerce companies.

The aim of the joint venture is to build a premium pan-European ecommerce player for the benefit of all wine and spirits brands and their European consumers, said the companies.

As part of the partnership Campari will contribute its stake in Tannico, which focuses on online sales of wines and premium spirits under the Tannico brand with a share of around 30% of this segment, to the joint venture.

Tannico also owns a majority stake in ventealapropriete.com — a major ecommerce platform for the sale of premium wines and spirits in France.

The combined business will be led by a management team headed up by Marco Magnocavallo, current CEO of Tannico, who remains a key minority shareholder in the business.

“This partnership represents a significant step forward in our global ecommerce development strategy,” said Philippe Schaus, president & CEO, Moët Hennessy.

“While ecommerce was already a growing channel for wines and spirits, the global pandemic has triggered a significant acceleration. We are delighted to be partnering with Campari Group and Tannico to create a premium pan-European wines and spirits ecommerce player,” he said.

Bob Kunze-Concewitz, CEO, Campari Group, added: “We are very pleased to partner with Moët Hennessy to become a premium pan-European wines and spirits ecommerce player through Tannico.

“After the completion of Tannico’s first transformational step with the acquisition of Ventealapropriete.com, thanks to this agreement, the new partnership aims to continue to grow, further strengthening its footprint and expertise in the online retailing of spirits and wines.”

The creation of the joint venture, which foresees the sale of 50% of partnership’s equity capital by Campari to Moët Hennessy for a cash consideration of €25.6M, is expected to be finalised after the completion of all customary regulatory requirements.

Tannico and Ventealapropriete.com have complementary business models, territories and capabilities in terms of technology, marketing and logistics and generated pro-forma aggregated sales of over €70m in 2020, according to Moët Hennessy and Campari.