Treasury’s big names on the block but who’s buying?

Treasury says Wolf Blass, Linderman’s, Yellowglen and Blossom Hill are among the brands for sale.

Deal-makers are scratching their heads over who will acquire the commercial wine brands of Treasury Wine Estates after Pernod Ricard sold its Australian business to Bain Capital.

The logical buyer, Australian Vintage, is not in a position to embark on a transaction.

While Treasury came out and told the market during its results presentation this month that its brands Wolf Blass, Linderman’s, Yellowglen and Blossom Hill were for sale, the market believes it’s been no secret that it has been looking to divest.

UBS advised and supported Treasury Wine Estates on its $US900m DAOU acquisition in California last November, so it will likely be involved in the divestment process for the commercial brands or in choosing another smaller advisory firm to carry out the job.

The Bain Capital-controlled Accolade Wines agreed to an acquisition deal with Pernod Ricard to buy its wine assets in Australia, New Zealand and Spain last month.

Bain would likely have its hands full recently gaining control of Accolade and now Pernod Ricard assets.

In May, Treasury Wine Estates boss Tim Ford put to rest any suggestion the group could be a participant in the latest round of consolidation in the wine sector this year, as he flagged that a spin-off of its non-core assets was not necessarily a given. He has made it clear to investors that its key focus was the luxury end of the wine market at a time younger consumers, conscious of the health impacts of alcohol, are drinking less.

Mr Ford also said there were about 15 to 20 non-core brands that were performing strongly, such New Zealand’s Matua wine brand.

However, with brands such as Wolf Blass Wines and Lindeman’s, he suggested that it was not the case that they belonged in the portfolio.

Industry consolidation made sense in the future, with significant synergies capable of being achieved.

Treasury Wine reported a near 13 per cent jump in annual revenue to $2.8bn.