Imperial Brands To Sell Premium Cigar Business For €1.23 Bln.

The British group Imperial Brands plc. announced today that it has agreed the sale of its worldwide premium cigar business for 1.225 billion euros (1.07 billion pounds).
The sale will be completed in two distinct transactions: Gemstone Investment Holdings Ltd. will acquire Imperial’s premium cigar business in the US (cigar distributor Altadis USA, the online retail platforms JR Cigar, cigars.com and Serious Cigars as well as the 28 brick-and-mortar retail stores Casa de Montecristo) for 185 million euros.

Allied Cigar Corp. SL will acquire the rest of the group’s worldwide premium cigar business for a total of 1.04 billion euros: This includes a 50% stake in Habanos S.A., Altabana SL, Internacional Cubana de Tabacos SA and Promotora de Cigarros, SL. It also includes non-Cuban premium handmade cigar sales operations outside the US (VegaFina, Flor de Copan) and cigar manufacturing facilities in Honduras and Dominican Republic.

The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter of calendar year 2020.