Latvijas Balzams distillery gets new owner as SPI Group reshuffles its holdings

RIGA - The ownership of Amber Beverage Group, which includes the Latvian distillery Latvijas Balzams, has been transferred to another company within the SPI Group S.ar.l., Latvijas Balzams said in a statement to the Nasdaq Riga stock exchanage.

SPI Regional Business Unit B.V. has transferred all its holdings in Amber Beverage Group to Amber Beverage Group Holding S.ar.l., which is another company controlled by SPI Group S.ar.l.

As a result of the transaction, SPI Group S.ar.l. still indirectly holds 6,746,460 shares or 89.99 percent of voting capital in Latvijas Balzams.

SPI Regional Business Unit B.V. used to be the largest shareholder of Latvijas Balzams with 89.99 percent of shares.

Latvijas Balzams has been part of Amber Beverage Group since October 2014. The Netherlands-registered company S.P.I. Regional Business Unit B.V. created Amber Beverage Group by bringing together several Baltic companies - Latvijas Balzams, beverage distributors SPI Distribution Latvia, SPI Distribution Estonia and Bennet Distributors in Lithuania, and also the specialized beverage store chains Latvijas Balzams Veikali in Latvia and Darija in Lithuania.

Latvijas Balzams shares are quoted on the Secondary List of the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange.

Latvijas Balzams in the first nine months of 2017 year posted EUR 55.54 million in sales, up 1.7 percent from the respective period in 2016, while the company's profit declined 7.9 percent to EUR 4.591 million.