Oliva Cigars acquired by European J. Cortés Cigars N.V.

[MadMonk]

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webf...igar-acquired-by-european-cigar-company-18889

 

[Pugman1943]

My first question is WHY? They make good stuff, rated highly. But while they say they will maintain control, it doesn't tell you the length of time for control. I've never been in the higher echelons of business and privy to contract negotiations at that level. For the factory folks I hope it's a simple, sweet deal.

 

[Mizicke5273]

I've listened to the Cigar Authority podcast and they speculated on these moves for a while. The FDA legislation may be behind some these moves. Some of these family owned businesses may just not want to jump through the new hoops.

 

[MichaelD]

Who knows what their profitability was going into the deal. It's a possible life line into deeper pockets.

 

[MadMonk]

One manufacturer told me that several small guys have been trying to sell. Oliva isn't that small, but who knows their motivation. Jose Oliva remaining CEO is interesting. We'll see how long that lasts. Might be a prudent move by the buyer.

 

[BlindedByScience]

One theory is that many of the 'smaller' guys will merge or outright sell out to European owners. They may try to maintain some market share by growing distribution in Europe. Given the costs of the FDA certification, they won't want to incur the expense of paying for certifying their whole line; maybe a select subset of their line will be sold in the US and the rest (hopefully) goes to Europe. Or something like that.

So much for the small boutique cigar companies we all like so much......

 

[punk_lawyer]

Oliva is probably the biggest name in this sell out discussion but I am guessing that others have been working this angle for quite a while. I hate to see this one though. I really like the Oliva products and I have concerns that the product will inevitably change.

 

[MichaelD]

It sounded like this won't be the first US based brand that will be bought up my European companies in their effort to maintain a foothold in the US market before the first FDA hammer comes down in August.

 

[Maduro Clint]

I can't say I've had a bad Oliva. Consistent cigar from beginning to end. Always hard to figure out the motivations of a company especially when it comes to the almighty $$.