Global spirits giant Bacardi Limited will acquire Patrón Spirits International AG, maker of the popular Patrón tequila, at an enterprise value of $5.1 billion, the companies announced on Monday.
Bacardi, the world’s largest private spirits business, already owns 30% of Patrón, which it purchased in 2008. Industry insiders have long hypothesized that it would eventually buy out the tequila maker in full.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2018. It will enable Bacardi to add an additional brand-name liquor to a roster that already includes Grey Goose vodka, Dewar’s scotch whiskey and a fleet of eponymous rums.
As part of the acquisition, Patrón cofounder John Paul DeJoria — who is currently worth an estimated $3.4 billion, according to Forbes—will sell his 70% stake in the company. Because Bacardi’s purchase price includes the assumption of Patrón’s debt (which is not publicly disclosed), it’s not yet clear how DeJoria’s net worth will change once the deal is completed.
DeJoria launched Patrón in 1989 with cofounder Martin Crowley, who died in 2003. Following a prolonged legal battle, DeJoria bought out the Crowley estate’s stake in the company and became Patrón’s majority owner in 2008, the same year Bacardi first invested.
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In Monday’s press release, he reflected on his legacy at the business. “Today… we produce more than three million cases of distilled spirits annually that are enjoyed around the world. I am proud of what our entire organization has accomplished,” he said. DeJoria will remain with the firm as “an ambassador for Patrón in the role of Chairman Emeritus.”
Monday’s announcement marks another milestone in DeJoria’s stratospheric ascent in business. He once slept in his car and sold shampoo door-to-door before he teamed with Paul Mitchell in 1980 to create his first entrepreneurial smash success, John Paul Mitchell Systems, known for its Paul Mitchell hair products. That company has grown from a $700 initial investment into a cosmetics heavyweight with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
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In September 2017, DeJoria was added to Forbes’ list of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds. In an essay published in the magazine as part of that issue, he credited much of his success to his application of the “Golden Rule”: “Treat and pay your staff exactly the way you’d want to be treated if you were in their place,“ he wrote. – Written by ,
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