Gallo Says Buy Buy Buy 🍷

GM and congrats on making it to the weekend, folks. First and foremost, TCU has their first game of the college football season today, so Go Frogs!

Here’s what we have on the agenda this morning:

• Gallo scoops up two assets 🍷

• Carlyle sells House of Arras 🥂

• L Catterton bets on supplements 💊

• Potato chip R&D 📈

• OLIPOP collabs with TALEA 🍺

The Big Story 📰

If you’re one of E. & J. Gallo’s investment bankers, it’s likely that you’ve done zero gallivanting in the Hamptons this summer. That’s because the California-based wine & spirits giant has been on a historic buying spree this past year, and that buying spree seemingly reached its apogee this week with two key moves.

First, E. & J. Gallo acquired iconic Napa Valley winemaker Rombauer Vineyards for an undisclosed sum. If the name doesn’t resonate, Rombauer’s label very possibly will. Per VinePair, Rombauer owns 13 vineyards, 700 acres of vines, and produces approximately 340,000 cases of wine per year.

Two days later, Gallo announced its acquisition of Massican Wines, another Napa Valley winery. Massican is well-known for exclusively producing white wines, a rarity in the region. Once again, VinePair provides excellent commentary on the transaction here.

In addition to Rombauer Vineyards and Massican Wines, E. & J. Gallo acquired two other companies this summer: Bev, a producer of canned wines and spritzers, and Hahn Family Wines, the owner of Smith & Hook, Hahn, and Hahn SLH. In May, Gallo also purchased canned cocktail brand Fishers Island Lemonade for an undisclosed sum.

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Accolade Wines, an Australian wine company with a global presence that’s majority owned by The Carlyle Group, has sold sparkling wine brand House of Arras in order to pay down debt. The buyer is Handpicked Wines and terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. AFR

• Consumer private equity firm L Catterton agreed to purchase supplements brand Thorne for $10.20 per share or a total of $680m. Thorne has differentiated from other supplement brands by focusing on personalization and clinical research. They’re the only supplement manufacturer to partner with the Mayo Clinic on wellness research. Last year, Thorne delivered net sales of $228m and net income of roughly $15m. PR Newswire

• Super influencer and entrepreneur and Timothee Chalamet’s lover Kylie Jenner is reportedly trying to buy back the 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics that she sold to Coty for $600m. Kylie Jenner will no doubt need a private equity partner to pull off a deal of this magnitude, but fortunately her older sister Kim Kardashian just launched one called SKKY Partners. Forbes

• Global private equity firm Warburg Pincus sold its 34% stake in British fashion label Reiss for £128m. The buyer is Next (LSE: NXT) and they now control 72% of the brand while the Reiss family owns 22%. The Guardian

Fundraising

• no noteworthy fundraising announcements to close out the week ☹️ 

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Diptyque, the French luxury fragrance now owned by Manzanita Capital, introduced their first-ever collection of refillable candles. They’re pretty gorgeous and retail for $285. Diptyque 

• Popular honey infused haircare brand Gisou launched a new hair repair serum today. The product retails for $45 and is their first foray into hair repair. WWD

• Tremaine Emory, the Creative Director of Supreme, has resigned from the streetwear brand after alleging systemic racism. Emory joined Supreme in February of 2022. VF Corporation acquired Supreme in 2020 for $2.1B. The Cut

• There’s a new eco-luxury fragrance brand focused on black women called SHOLAYIDÉ. The company was founded by Sholayide Otugalu who previously founded Josephine Cosmetics. Beauty Independent

• Cosmetics brand Glossier will be making its UK debut later this month. The brand will be available exclusively at Sephora in the UK starting on September 15th. Curiously, Sephora only operates one store in the UK, although another is opening in November. Cosmopolitan

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Brooklyn-based TALEA BEER CO. dropped yet another awesome collaboration. This time they collaborated with OLIPOP on a Strawberry Vanilla Cream Ale. What a beauty of a can. Instagram

• It’s been a big week for innovation in the potato chip space. First, Foxtrot Market launched an exciting private label product called Chicago-Style Hot Dog Chips. Second, Matt Parry, the founder of The Good Crisp Company, announced that they launched a new line of crinkle cut chips that’s available at Sprouts. Twitter

• According to recent trademark filings, spirits giant Diageo plans on launching some non-alcoholic seltzers and RTDs under their Seedlip brand. Diageo purchased a majority stake in non-alcoholic spirits brand Seedlip in 2019. The Grocer

• Louisville Vegan Jerky Company collaborated with Fly By Jing on a Sichuan Chili Crisp vegan jerky. Love the packaging. Instagram

• Energy drink brand Juvee partnered with GoPuff on an exclusive flavor called Peachy Mangopuff. The new flavor drops on 9/5. Great-looking can. Twitter

• It appears that award-winning bakery Milk Bar will be dropping a collaboration with Cheetos on 9/7. Instagram

Data 🖥️

• Despite economic uncertainty, folks are buying a ton of athleisurewear, so Lululemon just revised its FY revenue & profit forecast for the second time this year. CNBC

• The J.M. Smucker Company is selling an awful lot of Jif and Uncrustables. Sales for their U.S. Retail Consumer Foods unit jumped 49% to $464m. Food Business News

• Since launching five years ago, Mid-Day Squares has sold over 26m chocolate bars 🤯 Instagram