Cigar News: Imperial Brands PLC to Exit Cigar Business

Imperial Brands PLC, the parent company behind Altadis USA, JR Cigars, Casa de Montecristo, and 50% of Habanos S.A., has announced they plan to sell their interests in premium cigars. Imperial Brands aquired Altadis USA back in 2007 for $22.4 billion. Currently, premium cigars is not Imperial Brands focus, as they have products like Blu e-cigarettes and John Player cigarettes, but they are one of the largest players in the premium cigar industry.

Imperial Brands stated that this is part of their plan to divest £2 billion ($2.59 billion) of its assets it announced in 2018. So far it has only completed £280 million ($362 million) or 14 percent, of this amount.

“Premium Cigars has performed well over a number of years with good revenue and profit growth; however, it is a unique luxury business with a different consumer base and route to market relative to Imperial’s other businesses,” said the statement. “The sale of the business provides an attractive opportunity to realise shareholder value.”

In addition to these cigar companies mentioned above, they also own large stakes in many local Cuban distributors. These include:

In addition to the aforementioned companies, Imperial owns stakes in most—if not all—local Cuban cigar distributors, that includes:

• 27.5% of 5th Avenue Products Trading GmbH
• 25% of Caribbean Cigars Corporation NV
• 50% of Coprovoa SAS
• 50% of Cuba Cigar S.L.
• 50% of Cubacigar Benelux N.V.
• 30% of Diadema Spa
• 50% of Habanos Nordic AB
• 25% of Havana House
• 25% of Hunters & Frankau
• 50% of Infifon Hong Kong Limited
• 25% of Maori Tabacs S.A.
• 25% of Pacific Cigar Co. (Various)
• 25% of Phoenicia TAA Cyprus Ltd