US wine group Vintage Wine Estates has received several offers for a number of its wine brands and wineries.
Local business Adair Winery Inc. has bid $35m for the Clos Pegase and Girard wineries, according to a document filed with the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
South Carolina alcoholic drinks importer and supplier Vino.com, operating as Total Beverage Solution, also made a $6m bid for the Layer Cake, Tamarack and Cartlidge & Browne brands.
Meanwhile, Florida’s contract distiller Bartow Ethanol has made a $6.2m bid for Vintage Wine Estates’ Meier’s Wine Cellars winery.
The offers were made in the form of stalking horse bids, meaning the assets are still subject to higher offers, should they come in.
Earlier this month, Foley Family Wines had reportedly been granted court approval to sell the Cosentino wine brand, as well as the labels Bar Dog, Cherry Pie, Swanson, and SCV for a total of $15m, according to Bloomberg.
In July, the Californian vintner announced it planned to file for bankruptcy and voluntarily delist its common stock after failing to pay off $60.5m in debt.
The company said at the time it intended to sell “all or substantially all” of its assets and said it had already received “multiple preliminary indications of interest” from buyers.
Vintage Wine Estates was set up in 2007 by Pat Roney, to “bring together” his fine-wine brand Girard and direct-to-consumer label Windsor Vineyards.
It had previously invested in and acquired a number of US wine businesses, including Girl & Dragon brand owner Canopy Management Wine and Kunde Family Winery owner Kunde Enterprises.
The group's latest assets disposal follows a raft of attempts to salvage the publicly listed company’s bank balance – including a round of job cuts in May.
In July, it completed the sale of California-based Cosentino winery and equipment to Gene Wines for $10.5m.
In the six months to 31 December, Vintage Wine Estates generated net revenue of $141.3m, down from $156.5m a year earlier. Net losses were $64.4m, an improvement on the losses of $127.6m recorded in the corresponding period the previous year.
The group has said that as of 31 December it had $21.4m in cash and $305m of current debt outstanding.
In the company’s last full financial year, which ran to the end of June 2023, it recorded losses of just short of $189m on net revenue of $189.4m.
