The UK drinks tycoon, John Halewood, has acquired the contract bottling, gift packs and specialty drinks division of H&A Wines and Spirits, the bottler of miniature screw-top wines and spirits which had been in administration for the past five months. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Halewood has acquired the operations through H&A Prestige Packaging. It is anticipated that the company will be integrated with Halewood International, John Halewood’s Merseyside-based drinks distributor. Some two thirds of the 150 H&A employees are expected to remain in their jobs.
Administrators were called into H&A after cash flow problems following a failed expansion programme. It was also said to have been hit hard by the downturn in the air travel sector, for which it supplies miniatures, following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
