‘Strategic Opportunities’
Jose Cuervo will retain all Bushmills’ current management and workers, according to Lisa Crane, a Diageo spokeswoman.
“We don’t see it as losing anything,” Mahlan said. “We continually evaluate how we can utilize all assets in our collection of brands to grow within categories and important markets. While Bushmills is a good brand that had a good growth rate under Diageo’s ownership, it’s a good transaction for Diageo that allows us to capture strategic opportunities.”
Bushmills is an Irish whiskey founded in 1608. Diageo acquired the distillery in June 2005 for about $365 million. Diageo’s Menezes said during a conference call in July that Bushmills has underperformed in the U.S.
“We have tried hard over the years to get this brand into growth, and we’ve struggled,” Menezes said at the time.
(An earlier version of this story corrected the company name in the first paragraph to Jose Cuervo Overseas.)
Article Appeared @http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-03/diageo-to-trade-bushmills-whiskey-for-full-control-of-don-julio.html