Waterford unveils €45m global growth plans

Ireland’s Waterford Distillery has secured a €45 million (US$47.8m) funding package from HSBC UK to expand internationally.

The funding will assist Waterford’s future growth by supporting the company’s expansion into a premium UK supermarket and its export strategy through new international sales.

Available in 32 countries, Irish single malt maker Waterford is targeting the US as a key market.

The Irish producer received €45m financing through a Cross Border Asset Based Lending (ABL) Facility, leveraged against the company’s maturing casks of whiskey.

The funds will enable the company to lay down more whiskey to mature.

Based in a converted Guinness brewery, Waterford Distillery was founded in 2015 by Mark Reynier. He is the former CEO of Bruichladdich Distillery on Scottish island Islay and the founder of Grenada’s Renegade Rum Distillery.

The bank said it has a ‘long-term relationship’ with Waterford’s management team, which includes Reynier, as Bruichladdich previously banked with HSBC until it was sold to Rémy Cointreau.

Grant Bett, relationship director at HSBC UK said: “Waterford are a fantastic example of an innovative whiskey distiller using local providence and sustainable practices to bring their award-winning brand to the market.”

Waterford Distillery works with local farms to create single-farm-origin single malt whiskeys. The distillery also produced the first Irish whiskey to be certified organic by the Organic Trust as part of the company’s sustainability strategy.

Reynier added: “Waterford is [a] natural single malt whiskey, barley-forward and [with] terroir-driven flavours. Now, together with this HSBC UK facility and the outstanding stocks of maturing whiskey, we can bring Waterford to a wider global market.”

Earlier this month, Reynier added an ‘accessible’ Irish single malt whiskey to the distillery’s permanent range, called Cuvée: Argot.