Pernod Ricard Agrees to Acquire Kentucky's Rabbit Hole Whiskey

(Bloomberg) -- Pernod Ricard SA is set to acquire a majority stake in the Rabbit Hole bourbon brand, a deal that will give the world’s second-largest distiller a bigger foothold in the fast-growing U.S. whiskey segment.

Entrepreneur Kaveh Zamanian, who founded Louisville, Kentucky-based Rabbit Hole in 2012, said the deal will allow Rabbit Hole to expand its availability nationwide by next year. Terms of the purchase weren’t disclosed.

Rabbit Hole is available in 18 U.S. states, and its monthly bottle sales have doubled over the past year.

“Beyond the U.S. market, we have aspirations to go international, and in short order,” Zamanian said in an interview. He will continue to lead the business after the acquisition.

The brand is on track to sell 15,000 cases of 12 bottles by the end of 2019, Zamanian said. All production of the final liquid is done in-house at the company’s facility in Kentucky.

Pernod Ricard exited American whiskey when it sold the Wild Turkey brand in 2009. The Rabbit Hole deal, along with the earlier acquisition of West Virginia distiller Smooth Ambler, accelerates its reentry. Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Ricard has sought to revamp the company’s roster of labels to include profitable, small-batch liquors such as Monkey 47 gin and Del Maguey mezcal. In the process, he’s sold off assets he doesn’t consider central to the company’s strategy, such as the Domecq line of brandies.

Pernod Ricard is also weighing a sale of its wine assets, which include Campo Viejo and Jacob’s Creek, people familiar with the matter said in March.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Buckley in London at tbuckley25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, John Lauerman, Thomas Mulier

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