Mudgee Winery Takes Control Of Cassegrain
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday December 21, 2005
MUDGEE-BASED, ASX-listed Simon Gilbert Wines Ltd (SGW) is to acquire a 70 per cent stake in Cassegrain Wines in a $3.75 million deal. Cassegrain founder John Cassegrain and his wife, Eva, will hold the other 30 per cent and John will continue as the 20-year-old Port Macquarie venture's managing director and chief winemaker. The Cassegrain shareholding to be bought by SGW consists of a 20 per cent stake held by James Kirby and his family, the founders of the James N. Kirby refrigeration and engineering group, and 50 per cent held by the Macquarie Bank, and Macquarie Bank executive Ian Johnson. The restructured Cassegrain Wines company will lease the Cassegrain winery, cellar door, vineyard and immediate surrounds from John and Eva Cassegrain and associated parties. John Cassegrain told me that he, Eva and their associates planned a wine-related tourism and lifestyle development on the wider section of the site not leased to the wine business. The development would capitalise on the location at the intersection of the Pacific Highway and Fernbank Creek Road. He said he hoped the deal, which was subject to due diligence checks, would be completed by the end of the month. It meant that Cassegrain would continue largely as a stand-alone operation that could also make use of the "magnificent" SGW production facilities at Mudgee for its large-volume wines. Cassegrain would maintain its focus on wines made from grapes grown in the northern NSW and New England areas. The CEO of SGW, Paul Pacino, said his company was excited by the deal on Cassegrain, which sold about 50,000 cases of premium wine a year, had revenues of about $5.6 million and reported a profit of $200,000 after booking a one-off loss of $150,000 from machine breakdowns in the 2004-2005 financial year. The control of Cassegrain Wines by John and Eva Cassegrain, the Kirby family, the Macquarie Bank and Ian Johnson came about in 2001 in a resolution of a bitter eight-year dispute that racked the family of 1950s French immigrants Gerard and Francoise Cassegrain. The Cassegrain fortune, estimated at $50 million in the 1990 Business Review Weekly Rich List, was based on the Expressway Spares spare parts and machinery repair company founded by Gerard Cassegrain on the Pacific Highway, opposite the vineyard and winery. The Kirby family's relationship with Cassegrain changed in March 2002 when it bought the Hungerford Hill brand, cellar door, goodwill and stock from Southcorp Wines Ltd. The Kirbys went on to establish a major Hunter presence for Hungerford Hill by taking over the former One Broke Road winery, cellar door and Terroir Restaurant at Pokolbin. Simon Gilbert Wines developed out of a contract winemaking venture established in 1993 by former Arrowfield winemaker Simon Gilbert at the old Muswellbrook Oak dairy factory. Simon Gilbert Wine Services Ltd, as it was then known, in late 1999 merged into biomedical research company BioDiscovery Ltd, which was renamed Simon Gilbert Wines Ltd. SGW established an impressive $17 million state-of-the-art winery and packaging facility at Apple Tree Flat, Mudgee, but after its shares fell as low as 1.3 cents, it underwent a recapitalisation and management restructure. David Combe, who was national secretary of the ALP from 1973 to 1981 and later became Southcorp's senior vice-president international, took over as SGW chairman of directors. Paul Pacino, previously a senior strategy and business development executive with Southcorp, was appointed CEO. Simon Gilbert, who remained as chief winemaker for a period, has now been succeeded by Andrew Ewart, who was previously winemaker at South Australia's Mountadam winery. Simon Gilbert has now launched his own new custom and contract winemaking service company Wineworks of Australia.
© 2005 Newcastle Herald
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