Yealands Wine sells 80pc stake to power company

Yealands Family Wines owner Peter Yealands. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Blenheim-based power company Marlborough Lines has bought an 80 per cent stake in Yealands Wine Group for $89 million, the companies said in a joint statement.

The community-owned power company said it had realised profits of over $100 million from investments, which up until recently had been held outside the region, and that the investment in Yealands provided an opportunity to reinvest locally.

Managing director Ken Forrest said the purchase would provide increased dividends to its consumers the company's 24,500 consumers. "It will also provide long-term economic and social benefits to the region," he said.

"Opportunities to invest in the electricity industry are limited and this led to us looking to other options," Forrest said.

Yealands founder Peter Yealands said the company had been looking for an investor who wanted to continue to build the business.

Yealands said that the Yealands Wine Group continued to perform well ahead of forecasts, with strong demand coming from both the domestic and international markets.

The wine company has over 1,100 hectares of planted vineyards in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay It exports more than one million cases of wine each year to markets to over 80 countries
Peter Yealands will remain a shareholder and will continue his involvement with the company's operations, the statement said.

Yealands chief executive Jason Judkins will also hold shares in the company following the transaction, the statement said.