PROSIT BUYS CANTINA DI MONTALCINO

A fifth acquisition for the Made in Italy Fund portfolio company investing in the wine sector. It takes over this Tuscan winery specialized in Brunello di Montalcino ‒ the most renowned wine in the world.

Prosit is purchasing 100% of Cantina di Montalcino S.r.l. ‒ including its brand, real estate assets and production premises ‒ from Cantine Leonardo da Vinci Società Cooperativa Agricola.

Founded by Sergio Dagnino, Prosit S.p.A. is a company in the Made in Italy Fund portfolio. Promoted and managed by Quadrivio & Pambianco, this private equity fund invests in Made in Italy excellences in the fashion, design, beauty and food & wine sectors. Prosit is currently working on creation of a hub of Italian wineries active in the premium segment, fostering their exports worldwide.

Its Cantina di Montalcino acquisition stands as Prosit’s fifth investment ‒ taking it one more step ahead in its development strategy to assert itself as a key player in the fine wines segment.

IIts own portfolio includes another three wineries: Torrevento from Puglia, Nestore Bosco from Abruzzo and Collalbrigo from Veneto. This is alongside its investment of capital in Votto Vines, an American firm that imports, markets and distributes various types of wine from all over the world, particularly from Italy.

Cantina di Montalcino is currently the only cooperative winery in the Brunello area. Founded in 1970, today it counts 50 contributing members that grow Sangiovese grapes for producing Rosso di Montalcino DOC, Brunello di Montalcino DOCG and Brunello di Montalcino DOCG Riserva ‒ wines famous worldwide. It is also one of the few companies where the name of the local area also features in the brand name ‒ a characteristic making it easily identifiable and recognizable all over the globe.

Its premises were completely rebuilt in 2000, in a project marked by a modern style yet fully respecting tradition: the resulting design is one of a kind, taking it to feature on the Toscana Wine Architecture circuit.

Cantina di Montalcino produces its wines and exports them internationally: the company closed its accounts for 2021 on a turnover of €3.7 million and an EBITDA of about €1 million. Prosit and Made in Italy Fund intend to offer the company all the support needed for the next phase of development and consolidation on foreign markets. The current owner, Cantine Leonardo da Vinci S.a.c., is selling 100% of the company and will in turn invest in Prosit, supporting it in the development strategy already underway, which aims to build a collection of Italian wine labels complementing each other, and export these worldwide.

For Walter Ricciotti, Managing Partner at Made in Italy Fund and Chairman of Prosit, “Our Cantina di Montalcino acquisition stands as another step forward in creating a hub of Italian wineries to be showcased and exported worldwide. Offering such a renowned wine as Brunello will bring further added value to our portfolio, thus speeding up the development of Prosit, which is increasingly in the spotlight as a main player in wines in Italy.”

“This agreement reached with Cantine Leonardo da Vinci allows us to enrich our range with exceptional wines, thanks to meticulous management of the vines, the high level of winemaking technology and the winery experts’ consolidated experience,” commented Sergio Dagnino, CEO of Prosit. He added: “We see Cantine Leonardo da Vinci as the best cooperative winery in Tuscany. Its 50 Montalcino grape growers, which have been contributing their produce for many years, are the best guarantee in terms of quality and production continuity to enable us to expand distribution on international markets.”

For Lorenzo Melani, Chairman of Cantine Leonardo da Vinci, “The agreement reached with Prosit extends the teamwork introduced by our cooperative and stands as a landmark moment. It will enable us to best pair our production expertise with Prosit’s business ability and experience. Cantine Leonardo has always believed in integration between companies and groups because the size dimension has always been a decisive factor for standing out on a globalized market. We believe that this deal is a further step towards this crucial goal”.

Prosit was assisted during this transaction by Deloitte for the financial due diligence and by GOP for legal matters.