Beer Chang, the Thai beer brand, has bought the Norwegian cognac brand, Larsen Cognac. The deal has been agreed between International Beverage, a subsidiary of Thai Beverage Public Company Limited in charge of international sales of Beer Chang and other beverage products, and Anora which is the previous owner of the Larsen brand.
The agreed sales price is 54.1 MEUR. It includes not just the brand but also the production facilities of Larsen Cognac that are today located in France. The price will be paid in full at the closing of the transaction, according to a press release issued by Anora and a similar statement issued by International Beverage.
Larsen Cognac was founded in 1926 by the Norwegian Jens Reidar Larsen, who later moved the production to France. The current owners, Anora, had before the sales agreement granted International Beverage the distribution rights to Larsen Cognac on certain markets, so International Beverage already has intimate knowledge of the brand.
Malcolm Leask, Managing director of International Beverage, is pleased with the new agreement:
‘We are delighted to welcome Larsen Cognac and their team to International Beverage, along with the Renault, Monopol and Ibis brands. Cognac is one of the most dynamic categories in spirits today, and we are extremely proud to have such an admired brand and skilled production team joining our business,” he says.
Source: InternationalBeverage and Anora
Thank you for setting the record straight for future readers!
Dear Sir,
You got the timeline wrong. Jens Reidar Larsen was on his way to migrate to the USA when a ship repair forced him to stay near Bordeaux. He fell in love with the art of making Cognac, learnt the trade, married a local girl, THEN he founded his own company after about 7 years . Not the other way round.
Yours sincerely