This Week in CPG - Frasers Group to the Rescue

After a short reprieve for Thanksgiving we're back in business. Let's get into what's happened in CPG thus far this week...

The Big Story 

Frasers Group has been opportunistic over the past six months. The British retail giant, founded by the resourceful Mike Ashley, is known for operating a wide variety of apparel brands & retailers: Sports Direct, Jack Wills, Everlast, Evans Cycles, and of course their namesake – Frasers. 

Many of these brands, including their namesake, were distressed acquisitions, brands saved from bankruptcy or purchased during periods of severe economic distress. While most CEOs rightly fear economic uncertainty, Mike Ashley seems to relish it. The world is burning? Let's buy some assets. Brand X faces extinction due to crippling debt? Let's buy the IP and plug it into our vast retail network.

Recently Frasers has made a string of acquisitions using this playbook. Made.com, Missguided, and Mennace all fit the profile. Their latest acquisition, and perhaps their most brilliant one, was announced last week. Frasers purchased Gieves & Hawkes — a 250-year-old bespoke tailor and luxury menswear brand known for serving royals and prime ministers alike — out of bankruptcy. Link

A few different factors make this a brilliant acquisition. First, it's a rare asset. There just aren't many 250-year-old brands out there, let alone ones for sale at a steep discount. Second, due to its ties to Winston Churchill, King Charles III, David Beckham, and countless other celebrities and historical figures, Gieves & Hawkes has cachet. Tons of it. 

For next to nothing Frasers Group gets a desirable luxury brand that's older than Louis Vuitton and the United States of America. Pretty remarkable. 

The real opportunity for Frasers — perhaps even a nine-figure opportunity — lies in licensing Gieves & Hawkes. Given its distinguished history and cachet, it's conceivable that Gieves & Hawkes could be a thriving men's lifestyle brand with licensed skincare, fragrance, footwear, and eyewear lines, not too dissimilar to Tom Ford. 

Deals

• Little Rock, Arkansas-based coffee & tea co-packer Westrock Coffee Company acquired Kohana Coffee, a producer of RTD cold brews and cold brew concentrates. The acquisition significantly expands Westrock's RTD manufacturing capabilities. The now publicly traded Westrock — NASDAQ: WEST — has been growing fast. Link

• German family-owned brewer Warsteiner invested in Rye River Brewing Co., an Irish craft brewer founded in Celbridge in 2013. The multi-million euro investment will fuel Rye River's international expansion. Link

• Perucchi, a Spanish vermouth brand that was first produced in Barcelona in 1876, was acquired by Magellan & Cheers, a new spirits group led by the former CEO of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits, Jean-Noel Reynaud. Link

• Nestle is partnering with private equity firm L Catterton to essentially spin off its meal delivery services. Nestle will hold a 41% stake in the new entity but L Catterton will actively manage the biz. Link

• Some brewery M&A in the UK. St Austell Brewery, a Cornwall-based brewer that was founded in 1851, acquired a minority stake in a peer and frequent collaborator, Harbour Brewing Co. Harbour was founded in 2012. Link

•  Beam Suntory, the global spirits player with an expansive whiskey portfolio, is looking to fine-tune its portfolio and possibly sell Pinnacle Vodka and Cruzan Rum. Beam acquired Pinnacle in 2012 for around $600m. Pinnacle is produced in France but bottled in the US. Link

• LVMH acquired yet another supplier: luxury jewelry producer Pedemonte Group. LVMH has acquired a number of key suppliers this year: Roban's Group (leather), Heng Long (leather), and Maglificio Matisse (knitwear). Link

• Loving Earth, an Australian plant-based chocolate brand, raised almost A$300K on crowdfunding platform Birchal. Link

• UK-based vegan & cruelty-free haircare brand Umberto Giannini secured a 7-figure financing package from Lloyds Bank to expand their international presence. Link 

• Clean deodorant brand type:A was acquired by DCB Lab, a London-based consumer brand holding company. Link

What's New...

• A new keto-friendly cheese cracker brand, Why? Snacks. Basically better-for-you Cheez-Its. Great branding and great website. Link 

• Actor and screenwriter Sly Stallone launched an iced coffee brand, Tiger Eye Coffee, exclusively on GoPuff. Link

• Canada's Gibbs Honey collaborated with Ottawa-based restaurant Farinella on a cute hot honey product. Link

• Australian non-alc brewer Heaps Normal introduced its third product, Half Day Hazy. Love the packaging and love their tagline: "Too good to be wasted." Link 

• Louis Vuitton opened its first dedicated furniture and homewares store. The appointment-only store is in Shanghai. Link

• Waldencast Brands — the now publicly traded owner of Milk Makeup and Obagi Skincare — will launch its new skincare brand Coats in the US early next year. Waldencast incubated Coats and soft-launched it in the UK earlier this year. Link

• Aesop opened its first store in Mainland China. The stunning store is located on Dongping Road in Shanghai. Aesop has been a strong performer for its owner, Brazilian beauty group Natura & Co. Link

• New DTC cookie brand, Boop Bakery. Really fun branding. Link

Distribution Quickfire 

• BAOZZA launched its pizza stuffed bao buns at Target stores in CA & TX.

• Pharrell's personal care brand Humanrace will launch exclusively in the UK at Selfridges.

• Refresh Gum is now available at Anthropologie.

Thanks for reading along. See you again on Saturday. 

Robbie @ CPG Wire