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Diageo sells Archers to De Kuyper

Dutch producer De Kuyper Royal Distillers has acquired peach schnapps brand Archers from Diageo for an undisclosed sum.

Peach Schnapps
The 700ml bottle of Peach Schnapps clocks in at 18% ABV

The fruit-flavoured schnapps liqueur launched in 1986 in the UK. It is used in classic cocktails such as the Woo Woo and Sex on the Beach.

Mark de Witte, CEO of De Kuyper, said: “We want to own the peach category. In the UK the peach category is historically owned by Archers.

“We had the choice to keep competing with Archers or to try to acquire Archers and add the brand to our premium liqueur portfolio. We decided to do the latter.”

De Witte also commented that the liquid is “deeply rooted in UK consumers’ minds when it comes to peach liqueurs”.

“This strong brand performs very stably and has remained relevant for consumers in the UK ever since its launch,” he added. “For De Kuyper, the brand will have high priority and we will contribute our 325 years of expertise in liqueurs and our specific knowledge in the peach category to bring out the best in Archers.”

De Kuyper said it now owns two leading brands in the peach liqueurs category, including Peachtree.

John Kennedy, Diageo’s president, Europe, said: “We are committed to creating value for all our stakeholders through delivering consistent and efficient growth, including actively shaping our portfolio towards opportunities that will maximise growth over the long-term. We take a disciplined approach to capital allocation and this announcement continues our track record of active portfolio management.”

As part of the sale, Diageo has agreed a 24-month manufacturing supply agreement with De Kuyper Royal Distillers.

The deal has ‘strengthened’ the company’s position in the UK and is said to be in line with De Kuyper’s strategy to ‘own the cocktail’ with the UK being the second most important market for cocktails.

“We see an interesting growth platform for Archers in the category of cocktails and will utilise the insights, experience and best practices we gained with Peachtree,” explained Godelief van Erve, global marketing director at De Kuyper.

“Our focus stays on the current audience where the brand is popular and which is fitting very well with the cocktail drinker target group.”

De Kuyper was revealed to be the cocktail partner of The Spirits Business’ Travel Retail Masters Beach Party in October this year.

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