Australian Vintage Ltd. Cooperated with Founders of YesMyWine.

photo credit：AVL

Write | WBO Team
Translate and Edit | WBO Kiwi

WBO learnt that Australian Vintage Ltd. (‘AVL’) has entered into a subscription agreement with Vintage China Fund, L.P. – a new partnership established by the founders of China’s largest online wine retailer, YesMyWine.

The subscription agreement provides for the placement of 15% of AVL’s existing capital (35,939,389 shares) to Vintage China Fund, L.P. at a price of 46.01 cents per share and will raise $16.5 million.

The placement share price is based on a 7.1% premium on the Value Weighted Average Price (VWAP) for the five business days up to and including 1 May 2017 and is EPS positive.

Aspart of the deal, Australian Vintage (AVL) enters into an exclusive distribution agreement with Vintage China Fund, L.P. covering the supply of specific AVL products including Tempus Two, Nepenthe into China.

The imports of Australian wine increased 40% in China market in 2016, which reveals China’s huge demands for imported quality wines.

“This investment is a very exciting development for AVL and a great endorsement of our company, people and the quality of our brands. We already have a strong presence in a number of key global wine markets including the UK, North America and China, but in order for us to become a large player in those markets, particularly China, we need to continue to increase our sales footprint” said Neil McGuigan, founder of Australian Vintage.

He also added, “This long-term, strategic partnership will deliver positive distribution and help build sales outside our traditional markets, thus creating natural financial hedges for the business. This, coupled with the recently signed distribution agreement with Palm Bay in the USA, is continuing to evolve our company into a truly global branded wine business.”

Photo Credit：Jiang Yuan

As part of the placement deal, Vintage China Fund, L.P. director, Dixon (JiangYuan) will become a director of AVL, joining existing Board members Richard Davis, Neil McGuigan, Perry Gunner, Peter Perrin, John Davies and Naseema Sparks.

Dixon (Jiang Yuan) is the founder of www.yesmywine.com, the largest imported wine platform in the world, based in China.  He is well known for pioneering data analytics.  Having been an innovator and early mover in imported wines, his particular interest is in driving profitable sales growth in imported wines in China, and working on the most efficient ways in building brand presence.

Vintage China Fund, L.P. director, Dixon (Jiang Yuan), stated; “We are very excited about our investment in AVL. We have observed over many years the high quality wine that the company produces, from popular premium all the way through to super premium and their international wine show performance has been second to none. 

“The company’s branded growth in the traditional global markets for Australian wine has also been very impressive. AVL’s performance in Asia is pleasing but we believe we will be able to provide platforms and channels that will help step change the business in what will arguably be the largest market for wine in the world.”