Scandinavian Tobacco Group Buys Alec Bradley Cigars For Massive $72.5 Million
Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S (STG), one of the largest cigar companies in the world and parent of Forged, General Cigars, Thompson, Cigar.com, Cigarsinternational.com and brands such as the non-Cuban Cohiba, Partagas, La Gloria Cubana, Punch but also Balmoral, Toraño, Room 101, Macanudo, El Credito, CAO and several more, has acquired Alec Bradley Cigars for a whopping $72.5 million.
“The acquisition of the Alec Bradley cigar business is another important step toward our ambition of becoming the undisputed and sustainable global leader in cigars,” said Niels Frederiksen, CEO of STG. “Through this bolt-on acquisition, we will expand our portfolio of highly regarded premium cigars in the U.S. and international markets, delivering material value to our shareholders.”
Alec Bradley doesn’t have its own factory but has cigars produced by several factories in Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. None of the factories used are STG owned factories but that is most likely about to change.
This acquisition does not automatically mean it is a good thing. STG has a reputation of being the destroyer of strong brands. Macanudo is far from its former glory in name and sales, and the same goes for La Gloria Cubana. The Balmoral brand has been removed from many markets after the acquisition by STG and the annual release of a limited edition Balmoral XO has been cancelled. Where can we find Toraño cigars nowadays? And what happened with Leccia Tobacco? Room 101 has been dead in the water since STG bought the brand. And in Europe, STG destroyed a lot of strong brands in the machine made market, simply by making horrible choices. It’s not just their own brands that they hurt, for example, Royal Agio was responsible for the distribution of Drew Estate and La Flor Dominicana in Germany and the Benelux. Availability and sales of these brands dropped after STG took over. We at cigarinspector.com fear for the Alec Bradley name and reputation with these new owners.
