Treasury Wine Estates chief executive Mike Clarke had been in the job for just two months when the Australian market got its first indication that his plan to save iconic wine brands such as Penfolds and Wolf Blass was a winner.

It was May 2014 and the perennially troubled Treasury had just rejected a $4.70-a-share bid from US private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, but not before the bidder put its foot on a substantial stake in the business to keep hopes of a deal alive.