Diageo has on Tuesday announced the sale of Archers, the Peach Schnapps brand, to De Kuyper Royal Distillers.
Diageo added that the transaction will not have a material impact on EPS. As part of this transaction, the company has agreed a 24-month manufacturing supply agreement with De Kuyper.
John Kennedy, Diageo’s President, Europe, said: “We are committed to creating value for all our stakeholders through delivering consistent and efficient growth, including actively shaping our portfolio towards opportunities that will maximise growth over the long-term. We take a disciplined approach to capital allocation and this announcement continues our track-record of active portfolio management.”
De Kuyper said the British brand icon is the perfect complement to its premium cocktail liqueurs portfolio. The deal will further strengthen its position, especially in the UK, the second most important cocktail market in the world, the Dutch family company added.
“We want to own the peach category. With Peachtree we do so in a number of important cocktail markets, but in UK the peach category is historically owned by Archers. We had the choice to keep competing with Archers or to try to acquire Archers and add the brand to our premium liqueur portfolio. We decided to do the latter,” said Mark de Witte, CEO of De Kuyper.
“Archers is a high-quality liqueur with a great heritage, deeply rooted in UK consumers’ minds when it comes to peach liqueurs. This strong brand performs very stably and has remained relevant for consumers in the UK ever since its launch. For De Kuyper the brand will have high priority and we will contribute our over 325 years of expertise in liqueurs and our specific knowledge in the peach category to bring out the best in Archers.”
Archers Peach Schnapps is a clear fruit schnapps that is sold internationally. The subtle sweet liqueur with the full flavours of fresh peach comes in an instantly recognizable, elegant white frosted bottle. After its launch in 1986, the product has become one of the fastest growing drink brands in the UK market and founded a whole new category.
“We see an interesting growth platform for Archers in the category of cocktails and will utilize the insights, experience and best practices we gained with Peachtree. Our focus stays on the current audience where the brand is popular and which is fitting very well with the cocktail-drinker target group,” Godelief van Erve, Global Marketing Director at De Kuyper, added.
