American-owned Foley Family Wines has saved the struggling New Zealand Wine Company.
Bill Foley
In a statement the Marlborough winemaker said Foley Family Wines, owned by American billionaire Bill Foley, would take 80% of the company to satisfy NZ Wine’s bankers by cutting at least $5 million of debt.
According to its June 30 accounts, NZ Wine had group loans and borrowings of $17.25 million.
NZ Wine chairman Alton Jamieson said Foley Family Wines NZ would be issued 34.7 million new shares in return for all its New Zealand assets and a cash component of about NZ$5m.
In the year to June 2011, NZ Wine sold 174,000 cases – about a 10th were sold as bulk wine.
The deal is subject to shareholder approval and Overseas Investment Office….
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