William Grant & Sons has acquired the Drambuie Liqueur Company Limited which owns the Drambuie whisky liqueur brand.
Drambuie’s CEO, Michael Kennedy said, “We are pleased to complete this process with William Grant & Sons, a company who holds true those family values which will help nurture Drambuie to begin its next chapter of growth. As part of the William Grant & Sons stable of brands, we believe that Drambuie can truly achieve its potential as it will benefit from being part of a larger and more diverse organisation. I look forward to working with the William Grant & Sons’ team as we smoothly integrate the acquisition and help realise the benefits for both companies.”
While William Grant & Sons’ Chief Executive, Stella David commented, “Drambuie is a natural fit for our portfolio, it has a very rich history and a great story to tell and we are delighted to be in a position to start to re-engage with existing drinkers and to connect the brand with an entirely new generation of consumers.”
A family spokesperson for William Grant & Sons commented: “We have always been secret admirers of Drambuie. We are very grateful to the MacKinnon family for entrusting the future of this iconic brand to our family, and we will do our best to make them proud in the decades ahead.”
Drambuie was put up for sale back in May by the MacKinnon family who had owned it for more than a 100 years. At the time analysts said the company had a market value of £100m, although no sale price has been disclosed. Suntory were also said to be interested in acquiring the brand.