Purkari Winery acquires 76% of Angels Estate, a winery in Bulgaria

Moldova's first publicly traded wine company, Purcari Wineries, announced that it has entered into an agreement to purchase and sell a 76% stake in Bulgarian shareholder Angel's Estate Winery ("Angel's Estate", "winery"). According to INFOTAG, citing Purcari, Angel's Estate is a full-cycle winery located near Stara Zagora, in one of Bulgaria's most prestigious wine regions, the Traki Lowlands. The winery owns approximately 100 hectares of its own vineyards and has an annual production capacity of over one million bottles, producing some of Bulgaria's most famous wine brands, including Angel and Stallion.

As part of the transaction, Angel's Estate's current shareholders will retain a 24% stake in the winery and continue to act as a growth investor. The transaction is expected to close within two weeks of the signing date. "The acquisition of Angel's Estate is a step forward towards our goal of becoming the undisputed leader in wine production in Central and Eastern Europe, acting as a consolidator of a fragmented industry. We are adding a new geography to our group and see it as a great privilege to continue to develop Bulgaria's millennial wine tradition, including by expanding Angel's Estate's exports," commented Evgeny Komendant, CEO of Purcari Wineries PLC.

The Moldovan wine group sees strong synergies arising from the inclusion of Angel's Estate into the extended Purcari family and will work to maximize the potential of the business under the new ownership. Purcari Wineries Public Company Limited is one of the largest wine and brandy groups in Central Eastern Europe (CEE).

The group manages approximately 1,350 hectares of vineyards and operates six production sites in Romania and Moldova. Purcari Wineries is the leader in the premium wine segment in the Romanian market with a segment share of 30% and is the largest exporter of wines from Moldova, supplying products to more than 40 countries. Since February 2018, the group is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange under the ticker WINE. Purcari Wineries is led by Victor Bostan, a veteran with more than 30 years of experience in the wine industry, and is backed by leading institutional investors such as Conseq, East Capital, Franklin Templeton, Fiera Capital, Horizon Capital and Norges Bank. The shareholder of the Purcari Wineries Group is the private equity fund Horizon Capital. It is part of a consortium of foreign investors that acquired a 41.09% stake in maib, Moldova's largest bank, in October 2018....