Dive Brief:
- Heaven Hill Brands is acquiring Deep Eddy Vodka, and though terms of the deal were not disclosed, an analyst valued the company at between $165 million and $300 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.
- Last year, Deep Eddy reported a 130% increase in volume and has surpassed 500,000 nine-liter cases this year, up from 330,000 cases last year.
- Heaven Hill does not currently have much of a presence in the vodka category, relying mainly on Burnett’s Vodka, which Impact Databank says is priced below $10 for a 750-milliliter bottle and in 2014 sold about 2.6 million cases.
Dive Insight:
With Deep Eddy, which costs about $16 per bottle, Heaven Hill will become more competitive in the vodka category, Max Shapira, Heaven Hill’s president, told The Wall Street Journal.
This is crucial because the vodka category remains the largest spirits category in the U.S. Year over year, the vodka category grew up 1.6%, led by 5.4% growth in high-end premium vodka, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.
More established vodka brands, such as Smirnoff and Absolut saw their volumes decline 3% and 6.8%, respectively, last year, according to Impact Databank, due in part to the impact of upstart vodka producers.