Bacardi acquires tequila maker Patron Spirits for US$5.1bn

Spirits company Bacardi has fully acquired Patron Spirits International and its ultra-premium tequila brand PATRON for US$5.1 billion, a decade after it first acquired a minority stake in the company. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2018.Patron's leadership team, including CEO Edward Brown, COO David R. Wilson and CMO Lee Applbaum will continue in their roles. Co-founder of Patron John Paul DeJoria will serve as the company's ambassador in the role of chairman emeritus, following the closing of the deal. He aims to collaborate with Bacardi to further advance both company's dedication to philanthropic projects and environmental consciousness.Marketing has reached out to Bacardi and Patron for more comments.According to CEO of Bacardi Mahesh Madhavan, adding Patron to the Bacardi portfolio creates a "tremendous opportunity" for the brand outside of the US. Madhavan added that Bacardi's international distribution network will help grow the scale of Patron worldwide.In 2015, Bacardi made a major rejig to its marketing team by scrapping the global CMO role and establishing Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Europe and North America. Each of the markets is currently headed by a CMO who reports to Bacardi's CEO. As a result, former global CMO Dima Ivanov departed the company six months into his role.Last year, Bacardi was among 11 global companies in the alcohol and beverage industry that signed an agreement to further commit in developing new robust and responsible marketing standards for digital channels. Among the list of brands include Asahi, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken and Pernod Ricard.