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Heaven Hill ‘diligently’ hunts for acquisitions
Following its takeover of Deep Eddy Vodka in 2015, US spirits firm Heaven Hill Brands is poised to continue its acquisitive activity, the group’s president has said.
Acquisitions remain a key part of Heaven Hill’s growth strategy, according to Max L Shapira
Speaking to The Spirits Business, Max L Shapira, president of Heaven Brands, the largest family-owned and operated spirits firm in the US, said the group will seek to further expand and diversify its portfolio.
“Over the course of the years, we have, in addition to our growth and internal product development, acquired any number of brands,” he said.
“That has been part of our strategy, it continues to be part of our strategy, and we will likely be making acquisitions in the future. We search diligently for attractive properties that are complementary to our current brand portfolio.”
Shapira said that Heaven Hill will not necessarily seek to fill “category holes” in its portfolio as the group approaches acquisitions “opportunistically”.
“[It] could cut across a whole range of categories, it’s not a specific category that we have a gap, but it’s a question of what kind of brands would be complementary to our portfolio, and that could really be any category and any brand,” he added.
Heaven Hill completed its acquisition of Texas-made Deep Eddy Vodka for an undisclosed sum in 2015, setting in motion its plans to make the brand the best-selling super-premium domestic vodka in the US.
Shapira describes Deep Eddy as the “perfect acquisition” for Heaven Hill. “It’s been a terrific success and continues to grow at an unbelievably remarkable rate and we are highly excited about it,” he said.
The brand – which operates as a bolt-on business within Heaven Hill, complete with its own management, sales and accounting teams – is targeting rapid annual growth of +40% and is set to break the million case sales mark, with Shapira estimating sales of 1.3m-1.4m by the end of Heaven Hill’s 2016/17 financial year.
When asked whether Deep Eddy can become one of the world’s largest vodka brands, Shapira said: “We certainly would hope that, but at this point we have been concentrating almost all of our efforts here in the US. We would certainly like a more international focus in the future.”
To read our full interview with Max L Shapira, see the February 2017 issue of The Spirits Business magazine, out now.