Lion Nathan Acquires USA Wine Import Company

SYDNEY: Lion Nathan has acquired the USA wine importer Cumulus Wine Inc. (CWI), a subsidiary of the New South Wales based Cumulus Group, establishing a new wine import company Lion Nathan USA Inc, and thereby gaining a platform for Lion Nathan's Australian and New Zealand premium wine portfolio in the USA market.

Lion Nathan USA will import Lion Nathan's Australian and New Zealand wine brands, including Petaluma, St Hallett and Wither Hills, as well as Cumulus brands Rolling, Climbing and Phillip Shaw Wines from the existing CWI portfolio, for distribution in the world's largest wine market.

Lion Nathan Wine Group Managing Director, Anthony Roberts says, "We are very excited about Lion Nathan USA.  Our strategic objective is to establish the best possible route to market for our wine brands. By establishing Lion Nathan USA we can tap into the proven skills of the CWI USA sales team and create an Australasian focussed portfolio of premium regional fine wines.  The USA team have extensive customer relationships gained through years of experience working with Australian wines."

Based in Overland Park, Kansas, Lion Nathan USA's dedicated sales force will be led by President, Ron Mertz, and will service 73 state based distributors across 50 US states.

An agreement has been reached with current USA distributor, Constellation Brands, for the Lion Nathan Australia and New Zealand wine portfolio to move to Lion Nathan USA within the month.