Diageo agrees Amherstburg bottling plant sale
Crown Royal owner Diageo has agreed to sell its bottling plant in Amherstburg, Ontario, which was listed for sale last December.
Diageo did not disclose the identity of the buyer.
A spokesperson from the company said: “We can confirm that a purchase sale agreement for the Amherstburg facility has been signed. The process remains confidential and we are not currently in a position to share details regarding the purchaser. We will share additional information when appropriate.”
The Amherstburg facility has been a point of contention since the end of August 2025, when Diageo first announced that it would shut the site as part of its cost-saving Accelerate programme.
The site was one of the plants Diageo used to bottle its Canadian whisky, Crown Royal, before its closure in February.
The decision to close the facility, which put nearly 200 jobs at risk, was slammed by the province’s premier, Doug Ford. Ford then threatened to delist Crown Royal from Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) stores across the province, drawing backlash from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
Both the finance minister of Québec, Eric Girard, and Manitoba’s premier Wab Kinew urged Ford to reconsider his plan.
In February, the situation reached a settlement after Diageo agreed to pay nearly CA$23 million (US$16.8m) to keep its Canadian whisky in LCBO stores.
In October last year, Diageo responded to rumours that it could sell the Amherstburg bottling plant, stating it had not received any credible offers. The mayor of Amherstburg had claimed Diageo refused a multi-million-dollar offer to purchase the site.
The LCBO reported an 8% increase in sales of locally produced spirits in the last year, following Canada’s trade dispute with the US.
Crown Royal was the LCBO’s second best-selling spirit behind fellow Diageo-owned brand Smirnoff in its third-quarter (Q3), from 12 October 2025 to 3 January 2026.
Crown Royal sold 7.9 million nine-litre cases in 2025, according to The Brand Champions 2026 report.
Diageo reported an 8% organic sales decline for Crown Royal in its financial results for the last six months of 2025.
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