Emperador expands Spain vineyard

MANILA, Philippines - Emperador International Ltd., a member of Andrew Tan-led conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), has expanded its vineyard property in Spain to almost 1,000 hectares.

The acquisition of vineyards would hike the company’s brandy production in Spain ahead of introducing its deluxe brand in Vietnam next year, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“Emperador International, through its Spanish subsidiary Grupo Emperador Spain S.A., has acquired another 409 hectares of vineyard land within the province of Madrid, Spain,” the firm said.

“We are building more vineyards in order to support our brandy production in Spain,” said Emperador International managing director Jorge Domecq Bohórquez.

Early this year, Emperador International acquired more than 500 hectares of Vineyard in Toledo, Spain.

Bohórquez said the company is satisfied with the Philippine market’s reception for Emperador Deluxe Spanish Edition, an Emperador product produced and bottled in Spain.

“Sales of this product have exceeded our expectations since we launched it in the Philippines a few months ago. We expect to more than double our sales volume for Emperador Deluxe next year,” he said.

Emperador International is also preparing to launch Emperador Deluxe in Vietnam next year, Bohórquez said.

In August, Emperador Inc. committed to invest P5.8 billion in Spain as part of its plan to become a significant global brand. It earlier acquired 100 percent of Spanish brandy maker Bodega San Bruno, including the San Bruno trademark that has been registered since 1942.

Last month, Emperador, the world’s top brandy maker, raised P16.2 billion through a private share sale to bankroll its international unit’s expansion.

Emperador targets to double its sales volume in the next five years as it intends to corner a third of the global brandy market. The liquor maker sold 31 million cases of brandy last year.

Emperador produces and sells Emperador, Generoso and Emperador Light brandies and a line of flavored alcoholic beverages called The Bar.

Emperador is Tan’s fifth firm to be publicly traded after investment firm AGI and property developers Megaworld Corp., Suntrust Home Developers Inc. and Empire East Land Holdings Inc.