BERMUDA: Bacardi to pump US$250m into Dewar’s

Bacardi has lined up a massive investment behind its Dewar's Scotch whisky brand.

The drinks company today (31 July) unveiled a US$250m investment behind the whisky, in response to what it called "growing global demand" for Dewar's. The investment will be spread over the next ten years, Bacardi said.

"Demand for Dewar's premium whiskies has grown significantly, especially in Asia and other emerging markets where the brands were launched only in the past three years," said Andreas Gembler, president and chief executive of Bacardi. "To support our growth, we will invest more than $250m in additional capacity to meet these needs, creating an entirely new infrastructure to support higher inventories of maturing whisky and increasing our blending, bottling and packing capabilities."

Bacardi will build new product supply facilities in Scotland, while redeveloping an existing site in Parkhead, Glasgow, where Bacardi will construct new maturation warehouses and a fresh blend centre, as well as install new bottling lines and packing equipment.

In addition, Bacardi said it is close to finalising options to purchase a 100-acre tract of land in central Scotland to be developed as a second maturation and blending facility to support the growth of the brands.

Bacardi acquired the Dewar's brand in 1998. The company currently employs 300 people at seven locations throughout Scotland, with the investment set to increase the number of employees, the company noted.