Viva Wine Group has received a cash takeover offer from Riesling Ventures, a vehicle set up by the wine group’s three largest shareholders, which includes the company’s CEO.
Riesling Ventures is offering Skr38.5 ($3.96) per share in cash.
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The consortium is comprised of Late Harvest Wine Holding 1971, owned by Viva Wine Group’s CEO Emil Sallnäs; Vin & Vind, owned by senior adviser Björn Wittmark and family; and Legendum Capital, owned by board member and business development director John Wistedt.
On LinkedIn, CEO Sallnäs said the company’s founders were creating “a bid to go back to private ownership”.
The offer, which values the Stockholm-listed company at about Skr3.45bn, is a 38% premium to Viva Wine Group’s closing price on 26 June, the consortium said in its statement today (29 June).
In a separate statement, Viva Wine Group said it has seen its net sales rise more than 60% to Skr5.5bn since it listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in 2021.
At the end of last year, the group transitioned to Nasdaq Stockholm Main Market, and claimed to have booked “its highest first-quarter net sales to date”.
Operating margins in the quarter however declined, despite earnings rising in absolute terms, due, in part, to the “different margin profiles” of companies it has acquired. Its most recent acquisition was of the Norweigian non-alcoholic drinks importer Alpha Brands
The group also said it had been facing “challenges relating to the shareholder base”, with “larger institutional owners… continuously divesting smaller blocks of their holdings”.
Since the group listed in 2021, its share price has dropped by roughly 40% and shareholder numbers have dropped to around 6,4000 as if May, and the share liquidity “has been limited”, Viva Wine Group said, “partly as a result of a low free float, since a large portion of the share capital is held by the company’s larger owners”.
The takeover bid comes as the Sweden-based group says it faces “weaker development in the e-commerce market”, “a gradual decline in wine consumption”, amid other conditions.
In Riesling Ventures’ statement, Viva Wine Group’s CEO Emil Sallnäs, said: “Despite the company’s operational progress since the listing, we believe that the listing environment does not fully enable the company’s potential nor is the best platform for the company’s next phase of development.
“Our assessment is that this next development phase can best be realised in a private setting, with greater continuity and freedom to continue developing the company, while our public offer provides the shareholders with an attractive premium and opportunity for liquidity.”
The bidders already control 62.79% of the company’s shares and votes and have secured irrevocable undertakings from shareholders representing another 11.54% stake in Viva Wine Group taking total support to 74.33%.
The offer is subject to more than 90% acceptance on a fully diluted basis, plus regulatory and customary approvals, although the bidder may waive conditions.
Viva Wine Group’s independent bid committee has unanimously recommended that shareholders accept the offer.
“Based on the considerations set out above, the bid committee unanimously recommends that the shareholders of Viva Wine Group accept the offer,” it said in its separate statement.
Viva Wine Group imports, develops, markets and sells wines across 16 European markets through B2B and B2C channels.
Between April and May, the company’s revenue jumped 33.2% to Skr1.03bn, driven by the acquisitions of Delta Wines and Alpha Brands.
However, organic sales were down 8.3%, and adjusted EBITA was Skr54m, which corresponded to an adjusted EBITA margin of 5.2% for the period, down from 7.5% in the second quarter of 2025.
According to company, its profitability was pressured by freight costs, weak consumer sentiment and currency uncertainty.
