Andersen advises Imperial Brands on cigar business disposal
Andersen Tax & Legal has advised Imperial Brands on the sale of its premium cigar business to two private buyers, and which includes 50 per cent of of Cuba’s official exporter Corporación Habanos.
The buyers are Allied Cigar Corporation, an investment consortium, which is buying the international business of Premium Cigar, for 1.04 billion euros ($1.13 billion), which includes the 50-per cent share in Corporación Habanos, while Gemstone Investment Holding has agreed to buy the US division for 185 million euros ($202 million).
The divestment is part of Imperial Tobacco’s strategy to focus on mass-market products and cut debt. Imperial Tobacco produces the Winston and Davidoff brands of cigarettes.
UK-headquartered Imperial Brands inherited Cuban cigar brands Montecristo, Cohiba and Romeo y Julieta, when it acquired Spanish tobacco group Altadis in 2008, at the time the world’s largest maker of cigars, in a €16.2bn deal.
Andersen’s team advising Imperial Tobacco was led by Jaime Olleros (pictured, left), the firm’s partner director in Spain, and Ignacio Aparicio (pictured, right), director of the firm’s Cuba desk and manager of the corporate legal practice in Europe.
