Cartoon art owners buying up kiwi wineries

 A little known and secretive US company is moving from buying children’s animated art, to taking over three well regarded kiwi wine companies.

The Saint James Company, an American shell company based in California, is in negotiations to buy Lawson Dry Hills, Waimea Estate and Gravitas wines.

Despite media reports that the purchases had already been made, Lawson Dry Hills manger Sion Barnsley told NBR that the winery is still in negotiations with the company.

Mr Barnsley wouldn’t specify the specifics concerning the deal, nor its confidential funder, but did say that the deal was in its final stages, and that each winery is negotiating with the company individually.

The acquisition is the latest in a series of wine acquisitions for Saint James, after purchasing winery and distribution company Neqtar in Australia last October and the licensing rights to Koala Blue Wines, a brand founded in 1983 by Olivia Newton John and Pat Farrar.

Mr Barnsley says the company should offer great synergies for the companies involved, and its wide distribution network across the UK, Europe and the US should ensure its brands further their international exposure.

He says Lawson Dry Hills expects to be mostly left to run its business, and all brands will remain intact.

Saint James president Wayne Gronquist released a statement yesterday stating that he expects to generate some good returns from its new portfolio once US and UK imports begin.

“This portfolio of New Zealand wineries and vineyards represents world class wine estates that have cumulatively won an impressive number of trophies and gold medals honouring their excellence. The New Zealand wine industry has demonstrated dramatic growth and increasing global demand for their products, while maintaining strong price points and net margins,” he says.

The Saint James Company has a rather eclectic history, originally named Chem-Waste Corporation in 1984; it exited the hazardous waste disposal industry in 1998 citing increased competition.

It lay mostly dormant until 2003 when four Taiwanese investors picked up 40% of the company, and in 2007 it officially changed its name to The Saint James Company.

It had previously entered into an agreement with to buy a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animation art collection with the intention of marketing and distributing the art – but had to abandon the venture due to the company’s “limited resources.”

The company since listed the art collection as fully impaired, and its SEC filings have shown no income for several years, stating it “does not currently have active business operations but is actively searching for a potential purchaser or merger candidate.”

It is understood that Saint James’ funding for these wine acquisitions is coming from an unnamed New York investment bank.