Vinum Capital Management, based in San Anselmo, California, has launched Vinum Capital Partners I, a USD250m control and buyout private equity fund that will acquire and operate mid-size p
Vinum Capital Management, based in San Anselmo, California, has launched Vinum Capital Partners I, a USD250m control and buyout private equity fund that will acquire and operate mid-size premium and super-premium vineyards producing between 20,000 and 150,000 cases a year.
The Vinum Capital Partners team boasts exceptionally strong experience in winery operations and vineyard management as well as financial management and merger and acquisition transactions.
Its members include winery professionals with experience covering brand management, sales, distribution and winemaking at more than 40 with 150 brands, including Mondavi, Gallo, Beringer, Ravenswood, and Schramsberg, alongside investment specialists who collectively have been involved in more than USD1bn in winery transactions.
‘There is currently very little equity capital available in the middle-market wine industry,’ says Stephen Kuhn, general manager and managing partner of Vinum Capital Management. ‘Our fund objective is to address the growing pent-up demand for equity capital in this sector of the market.’
Kuhn cites a recent study by Silicon Valley Bank and Scion Advisors indicating that more than half of California’s wineries will change ownership within 10 years. The fund is targeting wineries, wine properties and strategically related businesses in California, Oregon and Washington.
Thomas Thornhill, also a managing partner of Vinum Capital Management as well as chairman of Mendocino Wine Company and a former partner at Montgomery Securities, adds: ‘The focus of this fund is to acquire wine properties efficiently, grow them effectively with expertise and necessary growth capital, and ultimately sell them to strategic and financial acquirers. We’ve built the best team in the wine, agriculture, and real estate industries to do just that.’
The firm’s investment partners include Justin Faggioli, formerly chief operating officer of Ravenswood, Scott Setrakian, formerly director of Golden State Vineyards, and G. Craig Vachon, a financing and M&A expert.
The portfolio management team includes Bill Foster, formerly of Beringer; Jonathan Pey, formerly of Robert Mondavi and Fosters Wine Estates; Doug Rogers, formerly of Gallo, Southcorp and Brown-Forman Wines; and Bob Steinhauer, formerly of Beringer and a leading viticultural expert.
Strategic advisors include Don Brain of VinReit, a real estate investment trust created by Global Wine Partners to provide real estate sale-leaseback financing to the wine industry, and Tom Hakel, formerly with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars.
