| The Agreement, if finalised will mean divestiture of 16-17% of the family stake and off-loading of the 18% stake held by a UK NRI investing company. 'They invested in 1998 and their investment span calls for an exit now. We have decided to offer some of our holding too so the new investor gets 35% stake. We shall maintain a simple majority at 51% while Veuve Clicqout will continue to hold 14%,' said Kapil Subhash Arora, President of the Indian Wine Academy, on his way to the airport to Bangalore.
Grover expects a 30% increase of sales year-on year, using the existing marketing network of Brindco. 'Current year's sales are expected to be about a million bottles (about 110, 00 cases). So the synergy should help them push 30,000 more boxes, in tune with the current growth of 30 %. Brindco sells about 40,000 cases of imported wines.
Grover has come out this year with 'Sante'- a low end label wine, priced at Rs. 235 with grapes bought from Maharashtra. Bangalore and Goa are the current markets with Delhi as the next stop this summer when the excise rules permit the registration. 'We plan to buy grapes in Maharashtra for wine to be made and sold there only. I was in Sangli last Sunday and am also talking to Nashik to get facilities so we can crush the grapes there for the next vintage in February-March,' he added.
Do the current negotiations have anything to do with Abhay Kewadkar, the winemaker and VP, who has been with the company for 18 years and has left recently to join UB group? 'No,' said Kapil emphatically. 'The decision to disinvest and have a strategic alliance was taken a year ago. In any case, we are hiring a new permanent French wine maker, who is joining us on 3 January, 2007. Thibault Verdenal has worked for Gallo in California and without our prior knowledge already has a fiancée in Bangalore !', he added laughingly.
Ludwig, the wine maker working for their consultant, Michel Rolland had been assisting Grover for a few years. He has recently left Michel to work for a Russian winery in France. But he will be made available to Grover temporarily on a part-time basis to help maintain the continuity, says Kapil. The absence of a good winemaker would become a critical issue for the quality of Grover wines.
When I talked to Aman Dhall about the deal, he was short and his evasive self. 'I don't know why people are spreading rumours. We have been talking to Grover for more than a month and nothing seems to be making headway. I don't think we will reach any agreement,' he said. He refused to divulge any further details.
Incidentally, Robert Joseph, who had gone to Sula in Nashik and Grover in Bangalore before visiting the IFE-India 2006 in Delhi, where he delivered the keynote address at the wine conference organised by Indian Wine Academy, is quite impressed by Grover wines. "In fact, I feel that Grover's La Reserve is an under-priced wine and should be sold at higher price,' he added.
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